March 20 – Colorado will further relax the COVID-19 restrictions managed through the state’s color-coded dial next week, with plans to facilitate ordering masks across the state in two weeks, and then hand over control of the majority of public health requests to local governments in mid-April.
The proposed changes to the dial include the reopening of bars in most parts of the state for the first time since last summer and the lifting of all state limits on the size of personal meetings.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment released Friday night the draft plan for what it calls “Dial 3.0” and asked for public feedback on the proposed changes, which will take effect – with possible modifications – on Wednesday -market.
The main objective of the new plan: to make it easier for counties to reach Green Level, the lowest end of the dial, and to remove most of the virus-related restrictions in the counties at that stage of the dial, including any limits on restaurant dining capacity .
Other changes would allow the bars to reopen in Blue Level counties with reduced capacity and lift all capacity limits at outdoor events in Green and Blue Level counties.
The plan released late on Friday also requires a modified statewide mask order to be issued on April 4. This guideline would suspend mask requirements in Green Level counties for everyone except students aged 11 to 18 until the end of the school year.
Private companies and local governments can still issue their own masking mandates.
NEWSLETTER: Sign up to receive daily OutThere Colorado headlines here
For Blue, Yellow, Orange and Red Levels, the mask mandate would remain in effect for the same group of students and for any indoor public places with 10 or more people present. The existing state mask order would remain in effect for all counties that reached Purple Level, the highest stage.
Under that plan, Dial 3.0 would remain in effect until April 16, when a new state-wide public health order would be issued to continue limiting internal, uninstated meetings. In addition, the previous state public health order and dial would become guidelines that local governments could choose to follow or not.
The announcement of new changes to the state’s COVID-19 dial came on the same day that the state opened eligibility for vaccination to an additional 2.5 million people, and as public health officials acknowledge the increased number of infections by variants contagious coronavirus in the state and a plateau of general cases and hospitalizations.
“Due to the commitment of all the inhabitants of Coloring, we are where we are now, able to be less restrictive and provide local communities and their public health agencies with more control, while protecting public health,” said Jill Hunsaker Ryan, director executive of the state health department in a statement. “It’s all about balance. We enact the restrictions we need to slow the disease while trying to limit the ramifications of closing parts of the state and the impacts that come with it.”
Colorado implemented the color-coded dial in September as a way to move the state’s 64 counties to different levels of public health restrictions based on the local transmission of the virus and hospitalizations for COVID-19.
The state, however, has changed the metrics on the dial several times since then, including the addition of a new upper end – Purple Level – when it looked like many counties were heading for another block and a relaxation of restrictions with the release of “Dial 2.0 “last month.
Currently, only two counties are at the Green Level – Crowley and Otero – and 45 are at the Blue Level, the second lowest level of restrictions. Blue Level counties in the metropolitan area include Arapahoe and Jefferson.
The remaining 17 counties are at Yellow Level, the next stage above the dial, and that includes Denver, Adams, Douglas and Boulder counties. Broomfield moved to the Blue Level, but earlier this month he was pushed back to the Yellow Level.
Denver recently approached Blue Level qualification before a small increase in cases of delaying the city; the numbers are trending in that direction again, and it is possible that the city will rank next week.
Changes to the Dial 3.0 plan include:
– Green Level metrics change to make it easier for counties to reach that stage, rising to 35 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people and 15 cases per 100,000
– Most restrictions on the Green Level have been completely removed, including dinner covers for restaurants. Bars, gyms and internal events would still have a capacity limit of 50% or a limit of 500 people, whichever is less
– Metrics for the Blue Level would also change, from 36 to 100 cases per 100,000 people, from 15 to 100 cases per 100,000
– Bars would be able to reopen on the Blue Level, with a capacity limit of 25% or 75 people, whichever is less
– Outdoor events at Green and Blue levels would not have capacity restrictions, unless counties choose to implement them at a local level
– Retail, offices and non-critical manufacturing in Level Blue counties could operate at 75% capacity, up from 50%
– There is no state limit on the size of personal meetings, although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommend avoiding large meetings
– Companies with state certification 5 stars in Blue Level counties could operate with 60% of capacity, not exceeding 50 people above the limit for restaurants and internal events and 25 people above the limit for gyms
State health officials say they are moving forward with the changes because of the growing number of coloradans who have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
In the middle of next month, the state health agency plans to switch to “a more local model”, which would allow county health departments to have greater control over the types of capacity restrictions that are currently dictated by the dial.
The state health department invites coloradians to analyze the proposal for Dial 3.0 and send feedback through an online form. The deadline for feedback is at noon on Monday. The state will release an updated draft on Tuesday with the changes taking effect on Wednesday.
(c) 2021 The Denver Post
Visit The Denver Post at www.denverpost.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.