Karen Gerrity, Administrator, Town of Nederland. Current Status of Health Orders and Impact to Local Business.

The state has instituted a n-ew method for tracking, monitoring, and regulating the status of the health orders by county. The COVID-19 dial dashboard tracks the progress of each county using key metrics. Here is the county-specific link: https://covid19.colorado.gov/data/covid-19-dial/covid-19-dial-dashboard.

Here is a summary of how the dashboard works:

Colorado’s dial framework has five levels to guide county response to COVID-19.

Counties move back and forth between levels, depending on three metrics.

Levels are based on the number of new cases, the percent positivity of COVID tests, and the impact on hospitals, and local considerations. As the dial moves left, toward Protect Our Neighbors, more people can participate in various activities.  

This framework gives communities a new tool to make life in the pandemic more sustainable. 

Boulder County is currently at Safer at Home Level 2. Any area business that is allowed to be open must abide by the face covering and social-distancing protocols. Places of worship and restaurants are allowed to operate at 50% capacity up to 100 people depending on a space calculator. Offices and retail establishments can have up to 50% capacity and personal services such as hair stylists are allowed to operate at 50% capacity up to a maximum of 50 people dependent on their space. The complete list of guidelines can be found at the link shared earlier in this article. Bars are currently not allowed to operate unless food can be served and they operate more like a restaurant. 

There was a surge of cases in Boulder County mid-September and most were traced back to the CU Campus. The County was put in the red zone on the dial due to this surge and was required to submit a mitigation plan to the state. State officials accepted the mitigation plan and due to several steps taken including quarantining CU students and going to completely virtual classes, the County is now out of the red zone. Nederland has 5 confirmed cases as of October 6, 2020. The most current county-wide information can be found here https://www.bouldercounty.org/families/disease/covid-19/covid-19-illness-and-recovery/.

These are confusing times and business owners and managers are encouraged to reach out to Miranda Fisher, the Deputy Town Administrator/Town Clerk at townclerk@nederlandco.org or 303-258-3266 ext. 1030. She can assist you in navigating through the health orders and understanding and complying with restrictions. Miranda is currently working with local businesses in preparation for the winter months including the extension of outdoor eating permits for interested restaurants. She is also your contact for special events which have their own set of regulations during this time. 

To get the most current pandemic data and status of health orders, like us at https://www.facebook.com/NederlandTownHall/ where we post state, county and local updates. The public is also invited to visit the COVID-19 link on the town’s home page which will take you to current information here: https://nederlandco.org/covid-19-information/. 

(Originally published in the October 8, 2020, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)