Many of you have heard the news that Governor Jared Polis will use the expiration of his Stay at Home Order to phase in a re-opening of business in the state of Colorado. This afternoon, Mayor Michael Hancock of Denver held a press conference to announce that the city and county of Denver would NOT immediately be a part of that order.
Since the inception of the state order, the Governor has been clear that any counties or municipalities wishing to install stricter standards could. Denver did just that with its own stay at home order. However, with the state order on the brink of expiration, Denver will extend its stay at home until May 8, 2020. Thus, when retail businesses across the state slowly ramp up operations next week, those in Denver will remain shut down.
The Mayor has cited a lack of testing capacity as a motivation for de-coupling Denver from Colorado. He would like to see 1,000 tests per day in order to ensure we are staying below capacity of our health care systems. Denver is currently at 750 tests per day.
The Mayor, flanked by his public health executive, stated he believes that the uniqueness of Denver’s economy mandates an action separate from that of the state, and has not commented on whether the order may be again extended as we approach May 8th. Update: Metro Counties Following Denver in Extending Shelter Orders
Since Mayor Michael Hancock announced the extension of Denver’s Stay at Home Order until May 8th, other counties have been chiming in with their similar extensions. This means when the State’s Stay-At-Home order ends on April 26, 2020, these counties will not be re-opening with Colorado:
· Denver County – May 8
· Boulder County – May 8
· Jefferson County – May 8
· Tri-County – No announcement yet
· Grand County – May 21
· Weld County – No further restrictions
· Las Animas County – rumor is order will extend to April 30
· Adams - May 8
· Arapahoe - May 8
· Douglas - No further restrictions