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Moffat County meets 5-Star Program metrics, will submit application to state for program approval

After forming an Administrative Committee to learn more about the 5-Star State Certification Program ahead of a future application last week, Moffat County now finds itself meeting all of the required COVID-19 metrics to officially apply for the program, which is designed to help businesses operate at a higher capacity than the current dial level their counties find themselves in.

In order for a county to open 5-star businesses at a less restrictive level, a county must have:

– A two‐week incidence in the appropriate dial level (Orange: lower than 350, Yellow: lower than 175, Blue: lower than 75 per 100,000) for all of the past 7 days



– A two‐week percent positivity in the appropriate dial level (Orange: 15% or lower, Yellow: 10% or lower, Blue: 5% or lower) for all of the past 7 days

– Under 90% of regional ICU beds in use, and days of stable or declining hospitalizations in the past two weeks in the appropriate dial level (Orange: 7 or fewer days, Yellow: 8 or more days, Blue: 12 or more days).



Currently, Moffat County remains in Safer at Home: Level Orange.

According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Moffat County’s two-week cumulative incidence rate from Dec. 30 through Jan. 12 is 279.2 per 100,000, and seven days out of seven are below the 350 per 100,000 metric.

In addition to meeting the incidence metric, Moffat County passed the two-week percent positivity metric. According to CDPHE’s report card, Moffat County’s two-week positivity rate from Dec. 30 through Jan. 12 is 4.5%, meeting the 15% or lower mark.

Moffat County’s hospitalization mark of 66% of ICU beds in use currently passes the 90% mark needed from the state. Additionally, there have been no more than two new hospitalizations per day of Moffat County residents reported in the past two weeks.

If Moffat County were to receive approval, individual businesses could apply to operate a level up from where the county is on the state’s COVID-19 dial.

Under the program, if the county’s COVID metrics remain at the orange level, 5-Star certified businesses can operate under the looser yellow-level restrictions. A move to yellow on the dial would mean a business can operate at the blue level and so on.

Moffat County Public Health Director Kari Ladrow was quick to point out at the January 5 Moffat County Commissioners’ meeting that the program is not mandatory for local businesses, that those businesses in the community that want to can choose to apply for the program.

In the program, businesses that apply and are approved must meet the following provisions:

-Requiring masks and 6-foot distancing

-For restaurants, ensuring that tables are at least 10 feet apart while at level red

-Regularly sanitizing and cleaning high-touch surfaces

-Recording customer names and contact information for tracing, if necessary

-Checking employee symptoms and tracking exposures

There is no timetable on how long the application from Moffat County could take for approval from CDPHE.

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