Jefferson, Adams, Arapahoe Counties Extend Stay-At-Home Orders

Adams and Arapahoe counties have extended their stay-at-home orders through May 8, Tri-County Health announced Friday. Denver, Boulder and Jefferson counties have also announced extensions of the order. As of Friday afternoon, Douglas County remains under the statewide stay-at-home order, which is set to end Sunday.

“While we want to minimize confusion for the public, reopening could look different for different communities based on the level of COVID-19 cases in that specific area,” John Douglas, Tri-County Health's executive director, said in a statement.

“Many parts of the state do not have growing numbers of COVID-19 cases and it makes sense for them to open, but in the more densely populated counties in the metro area, opening too soon could be detrimental to keeping us healthy and open moving forward.”

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Jefferson County's stay-at-home order extension will differ from the statewide order — Jeffco non-critical businesses will be allowed to offer curbside delivery of products, health officials said. Those picking up the products is now included in the order as "necessary travel."

"Our goal has always been to reduce the severity of this crisis with as short a disruption to people's economic livelihoods as possible. We hope this update to enable non-Critical Businesses to begin operating in this manner helps us start to get back on our feet," Mark Johnson, Jefferson County Public Health's executive director, said in a statement.

Jefferson County, unlike some areas of the state that have less population density, has not yet seen a decline in daily COVID-19 cases, health officials said. The county also lacks sufficient testing capacity or data about community compliance.

"No two communities in Colorado are the same, and each community has different needs as we look to the next stages of response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We have to consider what impact opening too soon could have on those in our community and region, and take a phased, science-based approach to reopening," Johnson said.

"By working together across the heavily-populated Denver Metro Area, where we have much higher rates of COVID-19, we can reduce some of the confusion and most importantly, protect the health of our residents."

Extending the order will give Jeffco health officials more time to develop and implement strategies in partnership with the business community on how to safely reopen, as well as to communicate with the public about the most effective ways to protect themselves in the face of a rapidly changing pandemic, health officials said.

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