As soon as Weld County metrics hit Level Orange, Greeley businesses can cash in on 5 Star Program prep
By Kelly Ragan
Greeley, Evans and Windsor officially have the green light from the state to move forward with implementing a 5 Star program.
The program essentially allows restaurants to increase indoor seating capacity so long as the cities involved meet the necessary COVID-19 metrics.
As it stands, Greeley and Weld County are at Level Orange, thanks to a designation by Gov. Jared Polis. However, some of the metrics (like the two-week cumulative incident rate per 100,000 people) are still in the red. Once all the Weld metrics move to Level Orange on the state’s COVID-19 dial, local businesses with the 5-Star certification will be able to operate at Level Yellow.
For restaurants, that means moving from 25% capacity to 50% capacity.
At a Greeley Area Chamber of Commerce meeting, city clerk Anissa Hollingshead said the state-approved program was initially designed to be implemented at a county level.
However, Weld County has been firm in its refusal to request variances from the state, so local municipalities that were interested in the program had to adjust.
“It took a little longer than we’d hoped,” Hollingshead said, “but we’re getting there.”
Hollingshead said Greeley can start certifying businesses now so that when the metrics do move to Level Orange, businesses will be ready to safely change operations.
What metrics matter?
Incidence rate, percent positivity and hospitalizations are the metrics in the spotlight for this program. Most of them are improving.
The two-week average positivity rate, as of Wednesday, was at 7.21%.
Local hospitalization rates were also looking good, said Greeley Emergency Manager Dan Frazen at a city council meeting Tuesday.
As it stands, the hang up is the incidence rate. To qualify for the program, Weld’s incidence rates need to be below 350/100,000.
According to Frazen, it was 497.2/100,000 as of Tuesday.
By the numbers
Total number of deaths due to COVID-19 in Weld: 193
Total number of deaths in Weld since January 1: 11
Total number of adult hospital beds available in Weld regional hospitls: 263
Total number of adult ICU beds in Weld regional hospitals: 35
Total number of adult ventilators available in Weld regional hospitals: 89