Face coverings, which limit the spread of the coronavirus, are optional in the city of Durango – but residents might want to keep a mask handy when they go out.
The Durango City Council unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday saying the city will no longer “actively enforce a mask wearing requirement” starting Wednesday. The city’s resolution allows businesses to make their own decisions about requiring masks and encourages people to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
“At the Chamber (of Commerce) meeting today, they were encouraging people to still bring a mask because it is business-dependent. They still have the right to refuse service,” said Melissa Youssef, City Council member. “No shirts, no shoes, no mask: no service – if they want.”
The move follows similar changes announced by San Juan Basin Public Health and state and federal agencies in the past week.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week that fully vaccinated people can resume most normal activities without a face covering or physical distancing, except when required by other health orders.
A person is fully vaccinated two weeks after they have received both doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines and two weeks after receiving the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis followed that lead on Friday. Fully vaccinated Coloradans can go without masks in public indoor spaces, unless the setting requires otherwise.
The state encouraged unvaccinated people 11 and older to continue wearing masks in all public indoor spaces where members of different households are present. Coloradans ages 11 and older must wear a mask in schools, unless the school district decides otherwise.
Everyone must still wear masks on planes, buses, trains and other forms of public transportation, such as airports and transit stations, as required by federal law until Sept. 13.
Counties can choose to have stricter restrictions. SJBPH issued an advisory last week strongly recommending residents in La Plata and Archuleta counties continue to wear face coverings in indoor public spaces and maintain 6 feet of physical distance between non-household members.
It is still recommended that people who are immunocompromised use caution when in crowds of unmasked people.
The changes loosen the state’s universal mask-wearing requirements that have been in effect since July 2020.
As of Friday, Colorado was tied with Michigan for the highest COVID-19 case incidence rate in the country. Variants of concern that have been shown to spread more easily or cause more severe cases of COVID-19 are also present in the community, according to SJBPH.
In La Plata County, an unvaccinated person was 11.5 times more likely to get COVID-19 than a vaccinated person, according to state and local public health data from April 25 to May 1. An unvaccinated person was 20.7 more likely in Archuleta County.
smullane@durangoherald.com
