Douglas County was among the first counties to submit an application for a new statewide 5 Star State Certification Program on Friday morning, and will allow certified businesses to operate at a higher capacity limit than the state currently allows. 

Wendy Manitta Holmes, the director of communications for the county, said the application was submitted at 11:30 a.m. after two weeks of nonstop collaboration between local Chamber of Commerces and county officials. 

“This took our entire county to get this done,” Manitta Holmes said.

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This new statewide program will allow certified businesses in Level Red counties, such as Douglas, Arapahoe, Adams, Boulder and Denver, to operate at Level Orange restrictions — or 25% indoor capacity. 

Currently, Douglas County is not eligible for the program as the state requires counties in Level Red to have a downward trend of positive cases, hospitalizations and positive rate for two consecutive weeks.

Tri-County Health’s strategic communication manager Becky O’Guin said Thursday that none of its entities — Adams, Araphahoe and Douglas counties — were eligible for the program, but anticipated Arapahoe and Douglas to be eligible “within a matter of days.”

Despite the county not being eligible as of noon Friday, officials anticipated a “huge response.”

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Pam Riddler, the president and CEO of Castle Rock Chamber of Commerce, said the program will bring back hope to businesses.

“While restaurants aren’t allowed to have indoor dining during the holiday season, which is typically their busiest time of the year, I think this will gives these owners hope,” Riddler said. 

Douglas County businesses interested in applying for the program can do so on the county’s website or by clicking here.

Businesses interested in becoming certified are required by the state to implement safety and health protocols, ventilation and measures to accommodate at-risk populations.

“The businesses that are interested are saying they’re going to do whatever it takes to go above and beyond what they’ve been doing to keep their customers and employees safe,” Riddler said.

An administrative committee established by each county is required to apply to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to become apart of the program, and is responsible to assess businesses on the steps to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

The committees are also responsible to monitoring compliance with the state’s requirements for certified businesses and are capable of taking away a businesses certification. 

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CDPHE also has the right to remove the program from any county that is found to not be performing enforcement, or if cases and hospitalization begin to rise the program may be suspended.

If a county reaches more than 90% of ICU capacity, the program is automatically suspended.