ARE YOU COVERED: COMMUNITY’S TRANSITION TO SAFER AT HOME?

Effective May 6, 2020, anyone 3 years of age and older is required to wear a face covering in certain public settings within the City and County of Denver.  Denver is not unique and is among a growing list of local county and municipal governments mandating the use of face masks when engaging in various public activities.  These local orders go a step beyond the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment’s Amended Safer at Home Order 20-28 (“SAH”) which urges individuals to wear non-medical face coverings when in public.

Under the Denver face covering order, employees interacting with the public and individual patrons must wear a face mask when in line or inside:  retail/commercial businesses, a facility to receive Critical Government Functions [as defined in the SAH], medical and healthcare services buildings, and a public transit/taxi/private car service/ride sharing vehicle.  Face coverings are not required when such use would inhibit the individual’s health, when you are at home or within your personal vehicle, or when you are walking and exercising outdoors.

SAH encourages individuals to continue to stay at home as much as possible.  However, SAH outlines the limited reopening of certain businesses and postsecondary institutions. It also permits certain activities by groups up to a maximum of 10 people as long as participants are practicing social distancing and maintaining 6 feet between participants.

In addition to the state SAH order, always check your county or city SAH reopening requirements as well.  Denver’s phased reopening is set to begin on May 9, 2020.

Denver has implemented the following criteria and requirements for businesses that may reopen:

• Non-critical retail such as clothing, home goods, cell phone (with 50% employees and 6-foot social distancing)
• Personal services such as hair/nail salon, tattoo, pet groomer and personal trainers (with 10 or fewer people in a single location or max of 50% occupancy, whichever is less; by appointment only, no walk-ins; strict requirements about PPE and 6-foot social distancing)
• Non-critical offices (with 50% employees and 6-foot social distancing)
• Field services such as in-person real-estate showings (with cleaning/disinfecting between showings and 6-foot social distancing; no open houses)
• Limited healthcare (with 10 or fewer people in a single location or max of 50% occupancy, whichever is less; by appointment only, no walk-ins)
• College campuses and buildings (limited in-person instruction for programs and courses that cannot be conducted remotely due to equipment requirements and 6-foot social distancing)

Until further notice, Denver is not allowing the reopening of the following businesses:

• Sit-down service in restaurants, bars, coffeehouses and other places of public accommodation
• Movie theaters
• Live-performance theaters
• Concert venues
• Sports arenas
• Gyms (with very limited exceptions)
• Shopping malls (except for stores that have public entrances/exits to the outside)
• Outdoor recreation facilities such as children’s playgrounds and tennis and basketball courts
• City recreation centers and libraries