Mesa County dodged a bullet over the weekend with its Variance Protection Program, also known as Five Star Certification.
In the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s official notification to the county Friday that it was being placed on a red “severe-risk” pandemic response level, it was told the Five Star program that allows qualifying businesses to remain open at 50% capacity cannot be used.
That sparked an immediate response from Mesa County Public Health Director Jeff Kuhr, Commissioners Scott McInnis and Rose Pugliese, local hospital officials and business leaders, who made numerous calls to the state about the matter over the weekend, including directly to Gov. Jared Polis.
The governor, the commissioners said, didn’t hesitate to reverse that state health department notification, even going on to say that not only does he like the Five Star program, but also wants to get other counties to create similar programs of their own.
“Ultimately what we ended up saying was, according to our two hospitals, the Five Star program was not a threat,” Kuhr told the commissioners on Monday. “Mesa County is open with control.”
The program was started by Mesa County Public Health and the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce several months ago as a way to get more compliance with public health orders in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, but also to help county residents feel more secure about patronizing local businesses after the spring shutdown ended, and help businesses recoup at least some of their financial losses.
Currently, more than 200 area businesses are in the program, including retail stores, restaurants and bars, recreational and fitness businesses, professional services and museums and other educational sites.
“The great thing that the governor told me was that he loves the Five Star program and wants to implement it statewide, which I think is great,” Pugliese said. “It just shows that Mesa County once again is the statewide leader on innovation when it comes to COVID response, and I appreciate that the governor appreciates that.”
To qualify, businesses must enact strict compliance rules, such as requiring mask wearing and limiting the number of patrons allowed inside, something Kuhr said those businesses are doing.
He said the recent upsurge in infections isn’t from people going out into the community buying goods and services, but with people congregating in public and private settings and not following public health orders.
“Our threat continues to be personal gatherings with family and friends, and we’ll be aware of that more as we go into the Thanksgiving holiday this week,” Kuhr said. “The Five Star businesses are running responsibly. They’re requiring masks. They have cleaning protocols in place. They have protocols for checking symptoms of employees. They’re truly limiting their capacity at 50%.”
The county isn’t alone in seeing a dramatic uptick in positive cases and hospitalizations. Similar increases are occurring around Colorado and in much of the nation, particularly in Midwestern states.
But while many of those states, most of which are predominantly Republican controlled, are starting to implement such things as mandatory mask wearing, dozens of Colorado counties controlled by Republicans also are bucking renewed restrictions.
Last week, the Garfield County commission issued a statement urging the state not to move it into a more restrictive orange “high-risk” alert from the yellow safer-at-home category it had been in. The state did so anyway.
Weld County’s five commissioners took their defiance even further, issuing a joint statement saying that they won’t enforce new restrictions imposed on them because of an increase in new infections. Like Mesa, that county was one of 21 counties that were moved into the red on the state’s COVID dial.
“The county will not enforce a rule that states residents cannot have personal gatherings,” the Weld County statement reads. “The county will not enforce a rule demanding restaurants close their indoor dining areas. The county will not enforce any rule that force a business to shut down or impedes their ability to operate.”
After the state health department tried to dismantle Mesa County’s Five Star program, and local officials pushed back, its executive director, Jill Hunsaker Ryan, acquiesced on Saturday, sending an updated letter to the county saying so. Still, Ryan warned that if infections aren’t soon brought under control, the state would revisit that reversal in less than two weeks.
“Variances under level red will be evaluated by CDPHE and may be modified, or revoked at any time,” Ryan wrote. “Mesa County’s Variance Protection Program, aka Five Star Certification, is a commendable model for how to mitigate disease spread among businesses, and we hope to replicate it across the state.
“However, it is yet to be determined if this tool is enough to provide intense pressure during a period of exponential growth in transmission,” she added. “At this time, CDPHE is not revoking your Variance Protection Program, but these certified businesses must, by Monday, November 23, 2020, at 6 a.m., operate under the orange policies of the dial.”
Most of the state and nation’s recent upsurges in new infections has occurred for various reasons, either by COVID fatigue for some and outright denial that the pandemic is a real thing to others.
Like other parts of the state, there is a contingent of Grand Valley residents who believe the best way to deal with the pandemic is through herd immunity, allowing the virus to take its course and letting people develop their own immunity, regardless of the deaths that might cause.
Last week, Commissioner-elect Cody Davis said he would favor a more focused approach to dealing with the pandemic, citing a proposal calling for herd immunity that has been denounced by the World Health Organization and other healthcare experts as unethical and lacking in scientific basis.
On Monday, Davis clarified his position, saying he isn’t on the side of herd immunity, but believes a more nuanced approach would be better.
“Herd immunity will eventually be reached through a combination of infection and vaccinations, but until then we have to maintain a balanced approach between mitigating spread and reducing the unintended consequences,” Davis said. “Where that line exists is up for debate. However, my position is not a carte blanche return to normalcy, but a balanced approach that takes all things into consideration.”
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County dodges bullet for Five Star program - The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
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