Larimer receives approval for Level Up COVID-relief program

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has approved Larimer County’s application for a variance program, called Level Up, that will permit businesses to operate with greater flexibility.

Now, the county’s health metrics need to continue improving, and businesses need to apply, agree to new health standards and procedures and submit to inspections.

The state’s approval was anticipated, and it came at 12:47 p.m. Wednesday. The program, which will permit approved businesses to operate at one level up from the county’s health dial status, means that restaurants will be permitted to seat a limited number of customers indoors, gyms will be able to host more customers at one time and businesses in general will be able to operate with greater flexibility if they agree to certain steps. Larimer is at a level red; approved businesses would be permitted to operate under level orange.

In preparation for approval, the county, cities and economic-development officials had asked businesses to submit their business plans on a preliminary basis.

“Businesses need to get their plans into the county to get in line for a site inspection and approval from the administrative committee. We’ve got inspectors trained and businesses already [are] sending in plans in anticipation of state approval,” Kelly Jones, the city of Loveland’s economic development director, told BizWest in a text message prior to the state’s action.

She said the county health department, which has recruited inspectors from other areas of government, was inspecting 40 businesses on Wednesday in anticipation of approval. Twenty are scheduled for inspections next week.

For the program to be maintained, the county’s must have “a two-week sustained decline in cases, a positivity percentage lower than 10% or demonstrably improving over the past two weeks, fewer than 90% of ICU [intensive care unit] beds in use and steady or declining regional hospitalizations,” according to the county health department website.

“We are thrilled that CDPHE, the Larimer County commissioners, and the Larimer County Department of Health and Environment provided this opportunity for business to reopen safely,” Ann Hutchison, executive vice president of the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce, said in a written statement. She said some businesses may be permitted to begin more flexible operations as soon as Wednesday night.

For businesses to participate, they need to complete the online application, which requires a COVID prevention plan and outbreak plan for each business. Once inspections have occurred and the Level Up Administrative Review Committee signs off, the business can operate at the higher level. 

The administrative committee includes representatives from chambers of commerce in Loveland, Estes Park and Fort Collins; the cities of Fort Collins and Loveland; the Larimer County Economic and Workforce Development department; Larimer Recovery Collaborative; and the Larimer County health department.

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