March 20 – Colorado will loosen COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the state’s color-coded dial next week, with plans to ease state-wide mask order within two weeks, and then hand over control of most public health orders to the local governments -April.
The proposed changes to the lathe include opening bars in most parts of the state for the first time since last summer and lifting all limits across the country for the size of personal gatherings.
The Department of Public Health and the Environment in Colorado on Friday night unveiled the draft plan for what it calls’ Dial 3.0 ‘and asked for public feedback on the proposed changes, which will take effect on Wednesday – with possible amendments’.
The key core of the new plan: to make provinces easier to reach Level Green, the bottom end of the chip, and to remove most virus-related restrictions in counties at that stage of the chip, including any restrictions on eating capacity by restaurants.
Further amendments will allow bars to reopen in Level Blue provinces at lower capacity and lift all capacity constraints on outdoor events in Level Green and Blue provinces.
The plan, announced Friday night, also calls for an amended order to be issued over the entire mask on April 4th. That directive will lift the requirements of the mask in Level Green premises for all but students aged 11 to 18 until the end of the school year.
Private enterprises and local governments can still issue their own mask mandates.
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For levels of blue, yellow, orange and red, the mask mandate will continue to apply to the same group of students and to public indoor spaces with ten or more people. The existing state mask order will remain valid for all provinces that reach level Purple, the highest phase.
Under this plan, Dial 3.0 will remain in effect until April 16, at which time a new public health order will be issued to continue the restrictions on indoor, unsettled events. In addition, the knob and previous public health commands would become clues that local governments can choose to follow or not.
The announcement of further changes to the COVID-19 chip of the state took place on the same day as the state made vaccination available to 2.5 million more people. plotting of overall cases and hospitalizations.
“Because of the commitment of all Coloradans, we can be less restrictive and give local communities and their public health institutions more control while still protecting the health of the public,” said Jill Hunsaker Ryan, executive director of the state. department of health, in a statement. “It’s all about a balance. We’ve put in place the restrictions we need to delay the disease, while trying to limit the consequences of the closure of parts of the state and the consequences that come with it.”
Colorado implemented the color-coded knob in September as a way to move the state’s 64 counties to different levels of public health restrictions, based on local virus transmission and hospitalizations for COVID-19.
However, the state has since repeatedly changed the metrics on the turntable, including the addition of a new top – Level Purple – when it appeared many provinces were heading for a different closure, and the easing of restrictions with the deployment of “Dial 2.0” last month.
Currently, there are only two counties at Level Green – Crowley and Otero – and 45 at Level Blue, the second lowest level of restrictions. Countries at Level Blue in the metro area include Arapahoe and Jefferson.
The remaining 17 counties are at Level Yellow, the next phase in the disc, and that includes the counties of Denver, Adams, Douglas and Boulder. Broomfield switched to Level Blue, but were knocked out to Level Yellow earlier this month.
Denver recently qualified to qualify for Level Blue before a small increase in cases caused the city to return; numbers are heading in that direction again, and it is possible that the city may qualify somewhere next week.
Changes under the Dial 3.0 plan include:
– Levels for level change to make it easier for provinces to reach that stage, moving to 35 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people from 15 cases per 100,000
– Most restrictions in Level Green are completely removed, including dining hoods for restaurants. Bars, gyms and indoor events will still be limited to a limit of 50% or a maximum of 500 people, whichever is smaller
– Metrics for Level Blue will also change to 36 to 100 cases per 100,000 people, from 15 to 100 cases per 100,000
– Bars will be able to reopen in Level Blue, with a capacity limit of 25% or 75 people, whichever is less
Outdoor meetings in Levels Green and Blue have no capacity constraints unless provinces prefer to implement them at the local level
– Retail, offices and non-critical manufacturing in Level Blue provinces can work at 75%, compared to 50%
– No state restriction on the size of personal gatherings, although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommend avoiding large gatherings
Businesses with a 5-star certification in Level Blue provinces can work 60%, no more than 50 people above restaurants and indoor events, and 25 people above high schools.
State health officials say they are continuing with the changes due to the increasing number of Coloradans vaccinated against COVID-19.
By the middle of next month, the state health agency plans to move to a more local model, allowing the health departments in the province to take greater control over the types of capacity constraints currently set by the slide.
The State Department of Health invites Coloradans to review the Dial 3.0 proposal and submit feedback via an online form. The deadline for feedback is Monday afternoon. The state will announce an updated draft Tuesday with the changes taking effect Wednesday.
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