Denver ends outdoor mask mandate, will loosen COVID-19 restrictions further on Friday - The Denver Post

The city will move a step down to Level Blue and continue to follow the state’s color-coded dial for the next 30 days in conjunction with most other metro counties, including Adams, Jefferson, Boulder and Broomfield.

“We think that we need to slow down a little bit with just dismissing the dial altogether,” Bob McDonald, executive director of the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment, said during a news briefing Wednesday.

The move by Denver and most of the other metro counties to lower restrictions will happen when the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment turns over control of most COVID-19 safety measures to local officials Friday by turning the restrictions dictated by the state’s dial into recommendations, not mandates.

In Douglas County, the elected commissioners voted this week to lift all restrictions on Friday and not follow the new health orders issued by the Tri-County Health Department, which serves Douglas, Adams and Arapahoe counties and first unveiled the metro-wide plan.

This includes the statewide indoor mask mandate, which is in effect through May, and a potential order on large unseated events — the latter might be issued soon by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, county attorney Lance Ingalls said during Tuesday’s meeting of the county commissioners.

The dial often has been a point of contention between local and state leaders during the pandemic, as public health officials in the metro area often pushed the state Department of Public Health and Environment to move counties together when changing COVID-19 restrictions so that policies didn’t vary by location around Denver.

While the state is allowing counties to lift restrictions, public health officials encourage Coloradans to keep wearing masks, physically distancing and avoiding large gatherings until more people are vaccinated against the coronavirus.