Jefferson County COVID-19 Restrictions: What Will Change Friday?

JEFFERSON COUNTY, CO — Colorado public health officials are giving local governments a lot more control over their restrictions beginning Friday, but Jefferson County will continue with a variation of the state's Dial 3.0 framework.

The county will shift Friday from the more-restrictive Level Yellow to a variation of the framework's Level Blue.

Here are the new restrictions, which will remain in effect for the next month:

• 100 percent indoors at restaurants, with 6 feet of spacing between groups; last call is 2 a.m.
• Bars can operate at 25 percent capacity or 75 people, whichever is fewer; last call is 2 a.m.
• 75 percent at offices and retail
• 100 percent at gyms/fitness centers with 6 feet of distancing
• 50 percent personal services and limited health care settings
• 50 person capacity per activity for group sports and camps

The county's mask order will remain in effect — everyone must continue to wear a mask in indoor public spaces when 6 feet of social distancing can't be maintained, public health officials said.

Jefferson County coronavirus rates have gone up in April, the latest data shows. Between April 5 and April 11, there were 891 new cases. More than half of the cases in Colorado are variants, state public health officials said.

"It's too soon to completely abandon all COVID-19 transmission prevention measures," said Dr. Dawn Comstock, executive director of Jefferson County Public Health, in a statement.

"Jeffco residents who are not yet vaccinated are still at risk and should continue to Be COVID Smart. However, we can now chart a sound path forward combining these proven COVID-19 mitigation strategies, our own local Jeffco data and a deep knowledge of our community's unique needs.

"We're confident this collaborative approach across the Denver Metro Area, in tandem with a unified race to get more people vaccinated, will help us avoid a fourth surge during this critical time. If we can work together and be patient just a bit longer, we may now only be about one month away from the finish line."

Level Clear

From May 16 to August 15, Jefferson County will move to the new "Level Clear," which will allow businesses to operate at 100 percent capacity with no mitigation requirements, although indoor mask requirements may still apply, public health officials said.

Jefferson County Public Health will closely monitor hospitalizations during Level Clear. If hospitalization rates surge, the county may need to apply capacity limits, officials said.

Under the new order, the county's Five-Star Certification Program for businesses will be suspended, officials said. Businesses that have been certified must operate under Level Blue capacity limits.

Jeffco public health officials worked closely with other health leaders throughout Denver's metro area to "determine how to best move forward," Comstock said in a statement.

"We are confident this brief phased approach will allow our community to work to get our recent increase in COVID-19 transmission back under control, while we race to quickly vaccinate as many people as we can and prevent another surge driven by more-contagious variants," the statement read.

"At the same time, our local businesses can better plan for the near future."

Colorado's coronavirus rates have gone up in April, the latest data shows. Between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon, 1,367 new cases of the coronavirus were reported in our state.

All Colorado residents ages 16 and older are now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. More information about how to make a vaccination appointment in Colorado can be found here.