Coronavirus Can Spread Fast When Restrictions Open Up. Polis Is Betting Colorado Will Be Different, But Public Health Experts Aren’t Sure – Colorado…

The governors move promised to have implications most immediately for businesses now able to open at higher capacity and schools looking to reopen to in-person learning, after months of going remote.

This is something weve been pushing for, said Sonia Riggs, president and CEO of the Colorado Restaurant Association. Every week counts to this struggling industry. She described surveys of its 3500 plus members that found nearly all lost revenue in 2020, with an average loss of 40 percent. Thats a devastating figure in an industry where profit margins can be five percent or less. She said the pandemic has cost 64,000 Colorado restaurant workers their jobs.

I would say nearly all restaurants are in dire financial straits, Riggs said. Twenty-five percent capacity, while we are certainly grateful to have it, really isnt going to help folks stay open much longer. She said increased capacity coupled with federal funding to help restaurants survive is critical.

Its a great decision...this completely came as a surprise, said Beth Gruitch, owner of Rioja and three other Denver restaurants. Her eateries rely on in-person dining, rather than take out, and the pandemics economic punch had cut her staff of 200 down to 60. Its really difficult to stay afloat now she said, adding that her restaurants invested $10,000 to make outdoor dining viable.

She fumed that the communitys restaurants have struggled to stay open as people have been allowed to do something she sees as much more dangerous: traveling by air and eating at airports. Denver International Airport has been open at full capacity. They havent had any restrictions at the restaurants, she said.

The airport has insisted its implemented numerous public health measures. But Gruitch thinks the airport has been a bigger culprit than restaurants.

That's really disappointing, she said. It was all the people that are, I'm sorry, irresponsibly traveling, and all the restaurants (at DIA) are open and you can go there and have full dinners and there's not even six foot distancing.

Meanwhile, the governors move to ease virus restrictions comes as schools around the state are hoping to welcome students back to school in person.

We do worry and wonder about the timing of this decision, said Amie Baca-Oehlert, president of the Colorado Education Association, who said it caught the teachers union off guard. She worried COVID-19 cases could climb too sharply wiping out extensive new plans.

We are certainly worried about what it could mean for our ability to implement those plans for return to in-person learning, she said.

Patrick Mueller, a Lakewood parent, is watching closely to see how the situation will unfold for his first grader. He described his son as an extrovert, who hasnt had a playdate in seven weeks with somebody younger than me and has been looking forward to getting back to school.

Mueller said he was hoping it would be possible, but, we dont want it to happen if its not safe.

Local public health leaders in Colorado stressed cooperation was critical, while suggesting sudden changes in rules make it harder to communicate the changes with nuance.

We all need to be paddling together and working in the same direction, said Liane Jollon, executive director of San Juan Public Health in Durango. Working together on a global pandemic takes such an enormous whole of government and whole of community response.

The region in southwest Colorado covered by her department saw a decline in cases in December and was on the path to drop below 350 cases per 100,000 people, the threshold to move down from red to range on the dial, in the coming weeks.

The challenges in communicating with the public are intense, she said, with so many factors, like infection spread, economic impact, a return to school to consider.

I think its a key moment and its a confusing moment, Jollon said.

Tom Gonzalez, the public health director in Larimer County, agreed.

I do believe the next two weeks are going to be critical, Gonzalez said. "If we let our guard down, if we throw caution to the wind, if we're not wearing our mask, if we start mixing households, then that trajectory could go the wrong way. Up.

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Coronavirus Can Spread Fast When Restrictions Open Up. Polis Is Betting Colorado Will Be Different, But Public Health Experts Aren't Sure - Colorado...