There are essentially THREE stages
1.) Protect our Neighbors
2.) Safer at Home
3.) Stay at Home (lock down)
BUT
within "SAFER at HOME" there are three levels
1.) Cautious (blue)
2.) Concern (yellow)
3.) High Risk (orange)
Here is the chart
Here is where everyone is right now
(NOTE: Adams and Logan are ONLY counties listed in "Safer Level 3" -- although technically Adams will move to Level 3 on Wednesday)
The MAJORITY of counties are in "Safer at Home" levels 1 (blue) and 2 (yellow)
Here's the critical thing to know however.
The current status of a county is NOT indicative of what's taking place in the county right now.
Let's talk about 2 week incidence rates
A LOT of Colorado counties are having problems here
So here's the deal. When a county starts to get in trouble (likely with cases to begin with), CDPHE starts what I'll call a formal conversation with the county to tell that county, in essence, "Hey, you. Yeah, your numbers are going up..."
"You need to do something about that"
As of last week, these are the counties CDPHE told me it was having those conversations with
(Adams' plan clearly didn't resolve the problem in CDPHE's eye as it is now moving from Level 2 to Level 3)
CDPHE is giving counties what amounts to a grace period.
In essence saying, "Yeah, your numbers aren't good. What are you going to do to get them back down?"
It's why a week or so ago, Denver announced more regs when it comes to masks and gatherings.
JUST IN -- @MayorHancock announces Denver will fall back to Safer at Home "Level 3" as Denver experiences sustained rise in cases, positivity and hospitalizations.
Blames those who refuse to believe in science for this.
To get back to Level 2... Denver must hold lower numbers for two weeks.
This could last "a little while"
Vote centers NOT impacted by this.
"this isn't fear mongering" says Hancock
"A lot of people have put in a lot of hard work," he says. "Businesses have faced a lot of hardships... people's livelihoods are at risk... because some people didn't take this seriously"
JUST IN - @CityofDenver will announce at 1130am that it is moving back from Safer Level 2 to Safer Level 3. This has big implications for businesses all over city that will now move from 50% capacity to 25%.