DENVER (KDVR) — Since masks have made a comeback in workplaces and public spaces, there have been 318 complaints made to the Tri-County Health Department.
There is not a secret pandemic police force making sure Coloradans wear their masks, but there doesn’t need to be. TCHD, which includes Adams and Arapahoe counties since Douglas County left the group, does not make complaints itself. Rather, citizens can complain directly to the department that certain businesses’ patrons aren’t following masking rules.
Coloradans inform on each other to county health departments mostly in large, publicly-accessible areas.
In Adams and Arapahoe counties, no single location type received more complaints than “recreational areas” such as gyms and swimming pools. Retail businesses, grocery stores and gas stations received the second and third most complaints.
Since Adams and Arapahoe counties began mandating masks in public in late November, more than one-third of the complaints made to the TCHD have come from only 10 chains, each of which is either a grocery store or a gym.
King Soopers is by far the location with the most complaints. A dozen different King Soopers stores in Adams and Arapahoe counties have received a total of 37 complaints in the last two weeks.
Lifetime Fitness has the second-highest number of complaints, with 23 spread across two locations.
With the exception of the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center and the Eloise May Library, the remaining 10 chains with the most complaints are retail store chains or gym chains.
Historically, King Soopers is the single-largest source of no-mask complaints.
King Soopers chains have received 192 complaints since the pandemic began. Walmart, 7-Eleven, Lifetime Fitness and Vasa Fitness round out the top five.