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June 2020

My Fellow Coloradans,

I'm thankful that our Colorado General Assembly has taken significant major actions to protect Coloradans during this pandemic, including help with housing assistance, help with utility bills, addressing hunger, support for small businesses, and services for those struggling with mental illness or domestic violence.

Today, my administration released safety guidelines for reopening residential summer camps, bars, indoor and outdoor event venues, and additional guidance related to personal services and other activities. If people choose to engage in these activities, they should expect them to be as safe as reasonably possible given the circumstances.

You can find out more about those specific topics later in this email.

As I've said before, our challenge is figuring out how we can manage the spread of coronavirus and keep our economy and society running in a sustainable way until we have a cure or a vaccine. It is incredibly important to wear masks in public and remain six feet from others whenever possible for us to maintain the gains we have made.

No state is perfect, but so far we’ve been able to strike a fairly successful balance in Colorado. That has only been possible because Coloradans have been following the rules and generally being responsible, and we all need to continue to be smart as we reopen further. We see cautionary tales across the country about the consequences of careless actions. Wearing a mask in public is our passport to the Colorado we love.

But we cannot let the good news of the summer give us a false sense of security. Because as we look to the fall, things are going to get more challenging.

A number of factors -- colder weather, more movement in our economy and society, more visitation from other states -- makes it likely that cases will tick up in the fall, as has happened in past pandemics like the Spanish Flu a century ago and H1N1 a decade ago.

And in the fall, we will be presented with a double threat: COVID-19 and seasonal influenza. Seasonal influenza varies every year with different levels of severity, and we won’t know how severe this flu season will be until we are weeks or months into the season. Influenza and COVID-19 patients alike may need hospital and ICU beds. We are going to have to stretch our resources even further to combat both at the same time.

We need to navigate a careful path forward that balances the need to control this novel and unprecedented virus until there is a vaccine or treatment while avoiding another prolonged period of shutdowns and economic pain.

That path forward relies increasingly on giving local governments more flexibility, more certainty, and more responsibility to contain outbreaks as we continue to manage this crisis over the coming months.

We will continue to supply the public with as much information as possible at covid19.colorado.gov, so we can all get back to earning a living and enjoying the Colorado we love.

We're all in this together.

Sincerely,

Governor Jared Polis


** 2020 Legislative Session
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As the General Assembly comes to a close, I am pleased with the bipartisan work that the General Assembly has gotten done in just a few short weeks, including:
* Using COVID-19 relief funds to provide:
+ Direct housing assistance for people struggling to pay rent or cover their mortgage.
+ Help for families to pay utility bills and to put food on their tables,
+ Supports for small businesses with loans and grants;
+ And assistance for those struggling with mental illness or domestic violence.

* Legislation extending and funding the reinsurance program for 5 more years to save people money on insurance premiums, and to provide additional coverage options to those who can’t afford it;

* Legislation to refer a tobacco and vaping tax to the ballot to help shore up our school budgets during the downturn, and ultimately to provide free preschool to every child who wants it in Colorado;

* Legislation closing tax loopholes to support our schools and provide tax relief for hardworking families through an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit;

* Legislation to provide paid sick leave for Colorado employees, which is vital right now during this pandemic and in the future;

* Legislation to preserve and protect our air;

* And of course, the GA passed overwhelmingly bi-partisan legislation to reform policing in our communities.

I want to personally thank all the members of the legislature for all their work on countless issues and especially the members of the Joint Budget Committee for balancing one of the most challenging budgets in state history in an incredibly short timeframe.


** New Safer-at-Home Guidelines
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Today, we announced a new round of Safer-at-Home guidelines to further relax restrictions on our economy and society in as safe a way as possible. While the full guidelines are available online at coloradosaferathome.com, here are some of the highlights set to go into effect Thursday, June 18th:
* Residential summer camps may open with groups of 10 kids indoors, 25 kids outdoors, similar to day camps. We encourage camps to divide campers into groups and limit contact between those groups in order to limit potential COVID-19 spread and make contact tracing easier.

* Indoor events (conferences, receptions, museums) can begin to open -- these vary based on the size of the venue:
+ Regular sized rooms under 5,650 square feet may open up to 25% capacity or 50 people per room for rooms, whichever is fewer.
o We didn’t pull these numbers out of thin air -- they’re designed to maintain the CDC-recommended 6 feet of separation.
o But we recognize that some venues really are substantially larger. We have heard the frustration that in very large venues, the ability to even have a few more people can make a difference.

* In large rooms, where you could have an even bigger radius -- a 6ft radius, around each person -- rooms over 5,650 square feet may open to 25% capacity or up to 75 people per room, whichever is fewer.
* In rooms double that size -- extra large rooms with over 11,300 square feet -- may open to 25% capacity, or up to 100 people per room, whichever is fewer.

* I’m happy to say that these large and extra large venue distinctions will also apply to restaurants, houses of worship, life rights, and higher education -- which are activities that are quite similar in nature.

* Outdoor events (concerts, fairs, rodeos, receptions) can also begin to open:
+ Standard venues under 5,650 square feet may open up to 50% capacity or up to 50 people;
+ Extra large venues, over 11,300 square feet can open up to 50% capacity or up to 175 people.
+ Large venues over 5,650 square feet may open up to 50% capacity or up to 125 people;

* Bars will be able to open at 25% or up to 50 people indoors, but must follow the same guidelines as restaurants where parties are seating, limited in size, and things like games that encourage mingling are not allowed. Outdoors parties must be spaced 6ft apart, up to local capacity limits.

* Personal services will be able to expand to include things like facials, beard trimming, lip waxing, etc. where the client has to take off a mask -- these services are permitted if the worker has adequate protection.

* Non-critical manufacturing facilities can expand in-person workforce up to 50% or 50 people per room.

The new guidelines will be open for comment for 48 hours, and then will be finalized on Thursday. You can provide feedback online at coloradosaferathome.com.


** Preparing for New Outbreaks
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I’m proud of Coloradans for doing such a great job of staying at home, wearing masks, keeping their distance between others, and protecting vulnerable communities -- that compliance has allowed us to take bold new steps on reopening. As we move forward, we want to make sure that future restrictions on our economy are imposed at a more local level to avoid another statewide shutdown.

We live in a big, diverse state with large, dense cities, booming suburbs, small resort towns, and rural areas with plenty of wide-open spaces. I was proud that we were the first state to allow for local flexibility through the variance process to Safer-at-Home.

Based on where we are now with our current case count, we feel we can continue to tailor solutions locally by empowering each county or community to keep residents safe.

That’s why we are announcing plans for the next phase of our framework -- Protect Our Neighbors -- which will give Colorado communities a path to further reopen.

Moving forward, communities that can demonstrate strong public health and health care systems -- paired with low virus levels -- can take on more control over their reopening plans. This new phase means that different parts of the state could be at different phases of reopening, based on local conditions and capabilities. Underlying virus levels, public health capacity, and health care capacity to respond to cases and outbreaks will determine whether a community will be under Stay-at-Home, Safer-at-Home, or Protect Our Neighbors.

The additional flexibility is important because if a local public health agency can scale its ability to do things like site closures, testing, case investigation, and contact tracing now, we can use them as a first line of defense, instead of having to control the virus through extreme state-wide shut downs.

In other words, strong local public health and health care systems are the key to reopening the economy.


** Three Levels of Restrictions
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Going forward, local governments will be able to choose between three different levels of restrictions based on the conditions on the ground:

Stay-at-Home

Conditions: Stay-at-Home is required when there is exponential community spread of COVID-19, we are nearing our hospital and critical care capacity, and we are on the cusp of significant loss of Colorado lives. Stay-at-Home aims at stopping statewide exponential growth in the number of cases, preventing mass fatalities, and preventing the necessity of clinical crisis standards of care. This phase buys needed time to build hospital and public health capacity so we can reduce the number of hospitalizations and deaths.

What it looks like: All non-critical establishments are closed under this phase and people are required to stay at home unless they work at an essential business.

Safer-at-Home

Conditions: Safer at Home is required when COVID-19 is spreading in limited clusters and outbreaks but is not community-wide. Hospitals and local public health agencies are in the process of scaling their capabilities, like testing and contact tracing, to prevent and respond to outbreaks so extra precautions must still be taken to prevent overwhelming those systems. While there is a stable or decreasing number of cases, we must continue to support and provide protections for those who are most at risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19, including people with underlying conditions, pregnant women, and those over the age of 65.

What it looks like: This stage allows most establishments to reopen at limited capacity (between 25-50 percent of pre-pandemic capacity), with an overall cap on the size of gatherings for different activities. These guidelines are based on different levels of risk of exposure while doing different activities, and in line with the state’s strategy of maintaining a social distance level above 60 percent throughout the duration of the pandemic.

Importantly, the gathering size caps are not necessarily about the capacity of the facility to maintain a six-foot separation between each person, but about the capacity of public health and health care systems to respond to and contain outbreaks of certain sizes if exposures do occur. Again, this phase is about building and scaling our ability to manage the spread of the virus -- the ability to do that is the key to handling outbreaks and avoiding future shutdowns. This phase allows for local variances, recognizing that the virus burden varies among different communities across the state.

Protect Our Neighbors

Conditions: Communities can enter the Protect Our Neighbors phase when the virus is well contained, and local public health and health care capabilities are scaled to a level that can respond effectively to future outbreaks.

In this phase, local public health agencies have the ability to contain surges in cases and outbreaks through testing, case investigation, contact tracing, isolation, quarantine, site-specific closures, and the enforcement of public health orders. The number of cases is stable, outbreaks are isolated and contained, and there continues to be a social distance level above 60 percent throughout the pandemic. In addition, we continue to support and provide protections for those who are most at risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19, including people with underlying medical conditions, pregnant women, and those over the age of 65.

In order to enter Protect Our Neighbors, communities must qualify by meeting scientifically established thresholds to:
* lower disease transmission levels,
* treat patients and handle the surge in need for intensive hospital care, and,
* conduct testing and effective case investigation, contact tracing, and outbreak response.

This is so important because if we can empower our local public health agencies to meet the needs of their communities, then we can rely on these tools to flatten the potential second wave and reduce future outbreaks instead of employing extreme shutdown orders at the state level.

What it looks like: Communities in the Protect Our Neighbors stage will have strong underlying public health and health care capacity that can respond to larger outbreaks, relative to population. This will allow them to permit all activities to occur at 50 percent of pre-pandemic capacity, with no more than 500 people in one setting at a time. Local or regional agencies will have more flexibility within this broad statewide framework on how to continue to prevent virus transmission. Over time, the 50 percent threshold may be increased if a region holds their transmission levels steady and continues to demonstrate they are capable of increasing treatment, testing, and contact tracing.

My administration will be releasing additional guidelines and information around the “Protect Our Neighbors” phase of the recovery.

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