Covid restrictions and enforcement by area of Colorado? (Denver, Colorado Springs: unemployment, buy)

[skyway31]

I'm curious as to the severity of the Covid restrictions during the pandemic in the state. I've been in California, which probably has had the most severe restrictions in the country. Still, there has been some variance in local rules and especially enforcement. Los Angeles county has tended to be even stricter than the state, whereas next door in Orange County, they often would not enforce statewide mandates.

I know that Colorado's governor definitely implemented restrictions that were loved by many, and loathed by many others. I'm trying to get an idea of what the restrictions looked like in places like Colorado Springs, or the suburban communities outside of Denver (I assume Denver had fierce restrictions). Things I'm wondering about:
- option to dine at restaurants, indoors or outdoors
- rules on gathering in groups
- outdoors parks and recreation areas
- any other interesting restrictions
In California, all of the above were closed/banned for long stretches. Outdoor dining was closed, outdoor parks and beaches were closed; all gatherings of any kind-including Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings with family- were prohibited. Once outdoor dining was allowed to return in L.A. county, establishments were prohibited from allowing their customers to see TV screens. (No, really).

For the record, I understand Covid is a real threat. I've been fully vaccinated for more than three months. But, I'm not at all OK with the kind of restrictions and closures I've experienced over the last ~18 months. Are there communities of decent size in Colorado where one could assume to be fairly safe from these kinds of restrictions?

[interloper1138]

The Grand Junction area would work for you.

[BarryK123]

Buy an island and make your own rules.

[COcheesehead]

Mesa County implemented a five star variance program that allowed conforming businesses to stay open as long as they followed strict cleaning guidelines. I worked for one and we stayed open throughout the pandemic. It helped many small businesses and gave people options during the pandemic.

[Westerner92]

The mayor of Denver and governor of Colorado had a spoken agreement to coordinate restrictions. Hospital admissions have been the main thing driving policy. The governor has generally been trying to be among the first Democrats easing restrictions and tried to make room for nuance and a middle ground, especially with the more rural areas. He did strip the business license for a cafe in Castle Rock that held a very crowded (by even pre-covid standards) indoor Mother’s Day celebration last year.

Unless a new strain breaks completely through herd immunity, I don’t see lockdowns being a thing anymore. Colorado generally has a much more conscious citizenry than most states, so even those who disagreed with the measures didn’t go out of their way to flaunt them in public and invite attention. I think we steered clear of hospital overloading for the most part, unlike places like the Dakotas, Texas, and California, so draconian measures nor triage were ever implemented.

[skyway31]

Originally Posted by COcheesehead

Mesa County implemented a five star variance program that allowed conforming businesses to stay open as long as they followed strict cleaning guidelines. I worked for one and we stayed open throughout the pandemic. It helped many small businesses and gave people options during the pandemic.

That seems sensible.

[skyway31]

Originally Posted by Westerner92

The mayor of Denver and governor of Colorado had a spoken agreement to coordinate restrictions. Hospital admissions have been the main thing driving policy. The governor has generally been trying to be among the first Democrats easing restrictions and tried to make room for nuance and a middle ground, especially with the more rural areas. He did strip the business license for a cafe in Castle Rock that held a very crowded (by even pre-covid standards) indoor Mother’s Day celebration last year.

Unless a new strain breaks completely through herd immunity, I don’t see lockdowns being a thing anymore. Colorado generally has a much more conscious citizenry than most states, so even those who disagreed with the measures didn’t go out of their way to flaunt them in public and invite attention. I think we steered clear of hospital overloading for the most part, unlike places like the Dakotas, Texas, and California, so draconian measures nor triage were ever implemented.

Seems plenty reasonable.

I have a strong suspicion at least parts of California will be seeing event cancellations and venue closures soon, if not a full lockdown. And I imagine many will welcome this with open arms, especially assuming the moves are paired with more super enhanced unemployment, stimulus checks etc.

[otowi]

Originally Posted by skyway31

I know that Colorado's governor definitely implemented restrictions that were loved by many, and loathed by many others. I'm trying to get an idea of what the restrictions looked like in places like Colorado Springs, or the suburban communities outside of Denver (I assume Denver had fierce restrictions). Things I'm wondering about:
- option to dine at restaurants, indoors or outdoors
- rules on gathering in groups
- outdoors parks and recreation areas
- any other interesting restrictions

In Colorado Springs/El Paso County:
- during the height of the pandemic, restaurants were closed to indoor dining, but could do take-out, delivery, and eventually outdoor dining. Now everything is totally open.
- If there were rules on limited numbers in gathering, nothing was enforced that I recall. I think I vaguely remember some restaurants not allowing parties over a certain size.
- I think parks did close briefly when stuff first happened but mostly these have been open throughout.
- Schools were a bit of a mess - remote only at times, hybrid at times, finally around 4th quarter fully open for those who wanted most of the quarter, but lots of rolling quarantines of students/staff, etc.

Right now there are no restrictions to speak of, but I don't know if it will last. At the moment our school district is 'strongly encouraging' but not requiring masks for unvaccinated, but not asking for proof of.vaccination - basically means do what you want.

[cowboyxjon]

To me, the restrictions were sort of “in the middle” of what we saw happen across the country. As a whole, the rules weren’t as strict as, say, what I saw happening in California or New York, but were more strict than places like Florida or West Virginia. In the end, I’m not sure that many of the rules really made much of a difference as it seemed like data for the country was sort of all over the place, but, it is what it is.

One thing I appreciated was that gyms were able to reopen fairly quickly, and the CDPHE published a lot of data that basically showed that at least in Colorado, gyms (with people taking precautions, like cleaning and masks) were not a significant source of transmission of COVID. So unlike some other places, I appreciated that they tried to be transparent by making it easy to access data about COVID. I remember talking to friends in California whose gyms were closed for much, much longer, maybe even like a year longer than my gym in Colorado.

The rules also slightly varied by county and city and there are some businesses who just decided to require masks or other things even after the rules ended.

Edited to add: I forgot to mention enforcement. I think the various health departments tried to enforce what they could. I know, for example, my gym received a visit from the county health department because someone complained about folks who were wearing their masks without covering their noses and felt that the staff wasn’t enforcing it heavily enough (honestly, they tried, but you can’t be everywhere at once). I was there when it happened, and then one of the employees told me what had happened.

[OneDawg]

Originally Posted by BarryK123

Buy an island and make your own rules.

Already have one of those. Hard to keep visitors off of it