State Aligns Mask Rules to CDC; Metro Counties are in Level Clear
Last week, Governor Polis amended the statewide mask order to align with updated CDC guidance. The state’s mask order expires on June 1. The administration said it will be the final statewide mask mandate. According to the CDC, individuals who are fully vaccinated can resume activities similar to before the pandemic. In addition, fully vaccinated individuals can resume activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing, except where required by federal, state, and local laws. The CDC’s new guidance requires masks in crowded indoor settings like buses, planes, hospitals, prisons, and homeless shelters.
In Colorado, the governor’s newest—and possibly final—mask order requires facial coverings for individuals age 11 and older in preschool through grade 12 schools when teachers are not fully vaccinated; prisons and jails; health care, medical and nursing facilities; and DMV offices. The governor’s order allows individual businesses to require mask wearing for employees, customers, and visitors. Local governments at the regional, county, and municipal levels can still require masks and institute their own mask requirements.
Level Clear:
Several metro area counties—including Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, and Jefferson—have instituted Level Clear as a 90-day observation period where businesses can operate at 100 percent capacity without social distancing and other mitigation. If hospitalizations increase above certain levels at anytime during the next 90 days, counties may change to more restrictive levels.
Level Clear allows offices and other indoor businesses to resume full operations and capacities, including meetings, events, and other gatherings. Businesses can require masks, and unvaccinated individuals are still required to wear masks indoors.
Counties such as Douglas and El Paso—as well as most rural counties—have already rescinded their COVID restrictions, including mask requirements. Colorado Counties Inc. maintains a web page to track local health orders and mask mandates. That site is available by clicking here.