El Paso County officials are asking the state to reopen limited indoor dining in the county and pushing back on the recently finalized certification program meant to allow businesses to operate at higher capacities than otherwise allowed under coronavirus rules, saying the program is too expensive for local governments and business owners. 

In a letter sent Sunday to Gov. Jared Polis, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, El Paso County Commission Chairman Mark Waller and other public officials asked for indoor dining at all restaurants to be reopened, saying it would be a much more efficient solution compared to what’s known as the Five Star Certification program.

“The five-star program as proposed to reward businesses for adhering to COVID public health restrictions is onerous, expensive, and not an effective solution for restaurants,” Suthers said in an official statement to the media.

El Paso County Public Health officials also signed the letter that asked Polis to allow restaurants to open with 25% capacity, with a maximum of two households per table, and to increase capacity limits to 50% in two weeks if the numbers of COVID-19 cases continue to drop. 

“The decline in cases in recent weeks, including over the Thanksgiving holiday (when restaurants were open), shows Coloradans are listening and continue to be committed to doing the right thing,” the letter stated. 

COVID-19 cases across El Paso County have been declining since Dec. 9 and are down to about 854 cases per 100,000 residents over two weeks from 1,279 cases per 100,000 people over two weeks at the peak.

The number of cases is still well above the summer peak, with 6,240 COVID-19 cases over two weeks total. The rate of cases in the county is also well above the threshold for level red on the state’s dial, which is 350 cases per 100,000 over two weeks. The level red restrictions closed indoor dining.

Officials argued in the letter that residents would be safer eating in restaurants than at events hosted in homes. 

Since May, there have been 24 confirmed outbreaks associated with retail food establishments in El Paso County and eight are active, said Michelle Hewitt, county public health spokeswoman. During much of that time period, more than 230 restaurants have remained open, according to a list compiled by the Gazette.

Research has shown that some of the highest risk situations for getting COVID-19 are indoor settings where people are not wearing masks, such as restaurants and retail stores, said Elizabeth Carlton, an associate professor and environmental epidemiologist at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

“If we rely only on reported outbreaks, we are going to fail to identify a lot of high risk situations,” she said.

Identifying the spread of the virus in a restaurant can be difficult because diners don’t know who may have been sitting at the next table, she said. It is much easier to identify outbreaks among the staff, who all know each other, she said.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment echoed Carlton’s statements in an email stating the high level of COVID-19 transmission in Colorado makes it difficult to determine where residents are contracting the virus.

“But common themes have emerged and eating indoors at restaurants is one of them,” according to the email.

The state laid out a path for restaurants to reopen through the five-star certification process that El Paso County officials critiqued in the letter.

The certification process would allow businesses to open at 25% capacity, or a maximum of 50 people, as long as the tables were spaced 10 feet apart and good ventilation was provided either through improvement to their air conditioning and heating system, opening doors and windows, or installing high efficiency particulate air filters, among other requirements. The restaurants must be individually inspected to ensure they are meeting the requirements. 

Officials said in the letter the certification program would cost $500,000 just to complete the restaurant inspections, assuming community partners could contribute employee time in kind. More money would have to be spent on a program administrator, inspector trainer, marketing and other costs, the letter said. The money could not come from federal relief funding the county received earlier this year because all of it had to be spent by Dec. 30, county spokesman Ryan Parsell said. 

Letter to Polis – Indoor dining modifications for restaurants requested (click Download PDF to see both pages)

The program is also far more restrictive than the Mesa County program it was modeled on, which only required businesses to tell the county health department they were following the rules, said Rachel Beck, the Chamber of Commerce vice president of government affairs.

El Paso County’s proposed solution is “a simple system that balances a respect for lives and livelihoods,” she said.

In addition to sending the letter, Suthers said he expected to speak with the governor about the proposal on Tuesday.

City Council Council President Richard Skorman said he hoped Polis would act on the request as soon as possible because so many restaurants are on the edge of closure. He expected the letter to carry weight since the county, city and other agencies are united in their request.  

“I think he’s going to take it seriously,” Skorman said. 

Conor Cahill, the governor’s press secretary, responded to questions about El Paso County’s proposal by saying the state health department has approved business certification programs in Larimer, Summit and other counties.