{"id":53328,"date":"2020-06-16T01:29:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-16T01:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-bars-can-begin-reopening-thursday-outdoor-concerts-fairs-can-soon-resume\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T10:03:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T10:03:47","slug":"colorado-bars-can-begin-reopening-thursday-outdoor-concerts-fairs-can-soon-resume","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-bars-can-begin-reopening-thursday-outdoor-concerts-fairs-can-soon-resume\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado bars can begin reopening Thursday; outdoor concerts, fairs can soon resume"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Colorado
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis makes a point about the upward trajectory of new coronavirus cases in neighboring states during a news conference on Colorado\u2019s efforts to curb the spread of the virus Monday in Denver.<\/span>David Zalubowski\/Associated Press<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Gov. Jared Polis on Monday announced that Colorado will further loosen restrictions on people\u2019s movement by the end of the week, allowing the reopening of bars and the resumption of outdoor events like concerts, fairs, rodeos and receptions.<\/p>\n

The Democrat said the changes \u2013 which will include strict guidelines and limitations aimed at reducing the possibility of coronavirus spreading \u2013 will go into effect on Thursday. The public will be able to offer input about the changes before they are implemented.<\/p>\n

Barbers will also be allowed to resume offering shaves and beard trimmings and spas can offer facials and lip waxing by the end of the week. Additionally, Polis said conventions and other indoor gathering places, like museums, can resume operations by the end of the week with restrictions.<\/p>\n

Finally, Polis said that residential \u2013 also known as \u201csleep-away\u201d or overnight \u2013 camps will be allowed to reopen.<\/p>\n

Even as Polis announced the easing of restrictions, he warned Coloradans that they can\u2019t let their guard down and must continue practicing social distancing and wear masks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are only just a few steps ahead of this virus here,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026 We can\u2019t let the good news give us any false sense of security.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bars, which have been shut down since March because of the pandemic, will be allowed to operate at only 25% of their capacity or up to 50 people, whichever amount is smaller.<\/p>\n

Residential summer camps will be limited to gathering 10 children indoors and 25 outdoors.<\/p>\n

Polis played down the latest relaxation of rules around Coloradans\u2019 movement as simply \u201cdotting the i\u2019s and cross the t\u2019s\u201d for his statewide \u201csafer-at-home\u201d phase of coronavirus. But with latest alterations, nearly every part of life as people in Colorado knew it will return in some \u2013 albeit limited \u2013 fashion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to exercise personal responsibility,\u201d the governor said, explaining that he\u2019s very anxious about the possibility for a resurgence in cases as neighboring state\u2019s, like Arizona and Utah, see increasing infections.<\/p>\n

\u201cProtect-our-neighbors\u201d phase is next<\/div>\n

Also on Monday, Polis unveiled what comes next for Colorado \u2013 likely in July \u2013 after the \u201cstay-at-home\u201d phase expires.<\/p>\n

The governor is calling it the \u201cprotect-our-neighbors\u201d phase, where counties with low levels of coronavirus transmission can apply to ease their restrictions to an even greater extent. Right now, areas of the state where coronavirus infections have slowed have been able to ask Polis\u2019 health officials for a variance to be more lenient.<\/p>\n

The governor says during the \u201cprotect-our-neighbors\u201d phase counties that can prove they have the virus under control and have the capacity to quickly address an outbreak will be allowed to go even further.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was proud that we were the first state to allow for local flexibility through the variance process, and that has been very successful in areas of the state with a low virus count,\u201d Polis said. \u201cThey were among the first areas in the entire nation to reopen their restaurants and many of their local businesses. We now feel that we can take that further.\u201d<\/p>\n

Communities that qualify for the \u201cprotect-our-neighbors\u201d phase will able to resume all activities with cap on gatherings at 50% their normal capacity, or up to 500 people, with adequate spacing, mask-wearing and sanitization.<\/p>\n

Counties that can show a sustained reduction in coronavirus cases may be allowed to have gatherings of even more than 50% of their normal capacity or 500 people.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere might be some county fairs in Colorado,\u201d Polis said.<\/p>\n

Cases, hospitalizations still trending downward<\/div>\n

Polis said the state\u2019s coronavirus data is promising: There has been a decrease in coronavirus cases in 12 of the last 14 days. There has also been a downward trend in hospitalization for eight of the last 14 days.<\/p>\n

More than 29,000 people in Colorado have tested positive for the coronavirus or are considered to have infections.<\/p>\n

Among people with confirmed cases of the virus, 1,605 have died. Of those, 1,373 have died as a result of the disease.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, journalist-owned news outlet exploring issues of statewide interest. Sign up for a newsletter and read more at coloradosun.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

says conventions and other indoor gatherings can resume by week\u2019s with restrictions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[685,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-53328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53328"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88267,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53328\/revisions\/88267"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53328"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=53328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}