DENVER (KDVR) — Governor Jared Polis amended and extended the statewide mask mandate on Sunday.
“It’s very sticky, we get into issues of health data and we are asking in front of other people,” Christian Hardingree, the Dean of the School of Hospitality at Metropolitan State University said.
The new executive order, according to the governor, is a push towards more vaccinations across the state.
Colorado schools and some other settings will continue to have an indoor face covering requirement, those include extracurricular school activities, child care centers, indoor children’s camps, public-facing state government facilities, congregate care facilities, prisons, jails, emergency medical and other health care settings, and personal services and limited health care settings.
For counties with greater than 35 cases per 100,000 people with no outdoor mask requirement, groups of 10 or more unvaccinated people indoors are to continue wearing a mask. Masks are required to be worn indoors when 10 or more unknown vaccination status people are present, with some exceptions.
However, groups of 10 or more with at least 80% of the people with proof of vaccination are not mandated to wear a face covering indoors even if there are 10 or more unvaccinated individuals in the space in counties with more than 35 cases per 100,000 people.
“I don’t think the proof of vaccine or even discussion has brought out the best in all of us,” Hardingree said.
Hardingree said she is concerned the new order can bring tension and might be difficult for small businesses to keep up with.
“It’s polarizing for people. I think of my family of five and I have three children not vaccinated. If I want to go out to eat, we will mess up the 80% simply by my own family,” Hardingree said.
She stated she also wonders what this means when it comes to privacy.
“People might be protective of their data. They might pick the businesses that don’t really look or don’t ask,” Hardingree said.
Counties at Level Green, mask wearing is not required if there are 10 or more people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown.
“Businesses or facilities should err on the side of assuming that people entering their indoor site are unvaccinated, unless they show proof of vaccination. While the majority of Coloradans are still unvaccinated, most indoor public settings like grocery stores, retail stores, and gyms will need to require mask-wearing,” the state site said.
Proof of vaccination is your vaccination card filled out by health care professionals, a picture of your vaccination card on your phone or your immunization records. If a vaccine card gets lost or destroyed, you can contact the provider where you received your vaccine to ask for your immunization record.
If you received your vaccine in Colorado, you can request complete immunization records for yourself or your child by reaching out to the Colorado Immunization Information System (CIIS) Help Desk at 303-692-2437.
The amended mandate will be in effect for another 30 days.
