This article by Faith Miller first appeared on Colorado Newsline on October 13, 2020.
For the first time since early August, Colorado’s percentage of positive COVID-19 tests has exceeded 5%, the threshold that the World Health Organization recommended states and countries stay below before reopening businesses.
If more than 5% of tests come back positive, that means not enough testing is taking place and the level of virus transmission in a community is too high for health workers to detect and trace outbreaks. A state or country should maintain a positivity rate below 5% for two weeks before reopening, WHO said in May.
The statewide positivity rate for October 12 was 6.4%, Governor Jared Polis said at a briefing the following day, making the three-day average positivity rate 5.4%.
“It’s very worrisome,” Polis said. “It’s very alarming.”
Another troubling sign: More people are hospitalized in the state with confirmed COVID-19 than at any point since May 31. As of Oct. 12, 288 people were in the hospital with confirmed cases, plus another 82 who may have COVID-19.
Rather than mention any future statewide shutdowns affecting businesses, Polis alluded to more “localized” public health measures that might be taken in places where cases were increasing the most. Those areas include Denver and Adams counties, he said. Denver has had 244 new cases per 100,000 people over the past two weeks, and Adams County has seen 318 new cases per 100,000 people.
“In the areas that don’t have these significant increases, they don’t need to take the same mitigation measures as areas that have acute outbreaks,” Polis said.
Also during the briefing, Polis announced a new partnership with Xcel Energy Colorado, the Xcel Energy Foundation and the Colorado Restaurant Association to help restaurants — which have faced financial strain during the pandemic — set up outdoor seating that can keep customers warm while still providing enough ventilation to keep them safe.
The program will include a virtual design workshop October 19 followed by a grant program to help restaurants pay for new seating.
“Outdoor dining spaces have been a lifeline that frankly have enabled restaurants to be at 100% or more of their capacity if the demand is there” during the summer, Polis said. Indoors, state guidelines allow restaurants in most areas to serve somewhere between 50 to 175 people, or a maximum of 50% of normal capacity.
Outdoor seating for the winter can include large, multi-table tents with at least two non-adjacent sides open for ventilation, or individual tents that can be aired out in between parties, according to guidance released by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
“It’s times like this that we all need to step up to support our neighborhood institutions, like restaurants,” Polis said.
Aileen Reilly, co-owner of Denver restaurants Beast + Bottle and Coperta, said that despite coming up with new revenue streams such as pop-ups and investing in greenhouse structures for outdoor seating, her sales are still down by about 45%. She called on lawmakers in Congress to pass legislation — such as the RESTAURANTS Act — that provides relief for restaurants.
“Continued assistance as we weather this crisis is vital for the future of the restaurant industry,” Reilly said.
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