This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

DENVER (KDVR) — State officials have approved the City and County of Denver’s application for its 5 Star program, which will allow businesses taking extra safety measures to expand operations.

The City began accepting applications for the program on Tuesday. So far, it has received 319 completed applications.

To be approved for the program, a business has to take a number of additional safety precautions to help prevent customers and employees from contracting COVID-19. For example, the business must be able to contact all customers who visited the facility in the event of a coronavirus outbreak or exposure.

After submitting an application, the business must be inspected.

While Denver is currently under Level Orange restrictions on the state’s COVID-19 Dial, following approval, a business can operate under less-strict Level Yellow guidelines.

The City said it expects 19 businesses to be certified by the end of this week.

The program will be capped at 500 businesses initially, but it could be expanded.

Applications are available online.

“To Denver businesses struggling to stay afloat, we hear you,” Mayor Michael B. Hancock said in a statement. “This 5 Star Certification Program represents a very encouraging, nimble collaboration between civic partners who share your goal of safely increasing capacity so you can serve more customers and get more of your employees back to work. I look forward to congratulating our first group out of the starting gate with certification.”