Boulder on Friday issued an emergency order prohibiting alcohol sales at bars, restaurants and clubs after 10 p.m. in response to the city’s increase in coronavirus cases.
The order went into effect at 5 p.m. Friday and will last through noon Oct. 8, according to a news release from the city, but it could be further amended or extended. The order applies to 199 businesses within the city, restricting alcohol sales “to end consumers for on-premises consumption between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.,” the release states.
New cases have been on the rise for nearly three weeks in Boulder County, with “the vast majority due to transmission among people aged 18-22, particularly those attending the University of Colorado Boulder and living in the University Hill neighborhood,” the release states.
If cases continue to rise, the county is at risk of moving from Safer-at-Home level 2 restrictions to Safer-at-Home level 3 restrictions.
The biggest differences between Safer-at-Home level 2 and Safer-at-Home level 3 is that the latter would mandate bars be closed, would drop most facilities’ allowable capacity from 50% to 25% and would limit gyms would to virtual classes or outdoor classes with no more than 10 people and would suggest schools move to remote or hybrid learning models.
Boulder Valley plans to bring kindergarten through second-grade students back for in-person learning four days each week and third- through twelfth-grad special education students two days per week starting Tuesday, while St. Vrain Valley students will have the option to learn in person two days per week starting Oct. 5.
“Alcohol can play a big part in social gatherings,” City Manager Jane Brautigam stated in the release. “We are hoping this order will help curb the current case increase we are seeing among younger members of the community. We understand that this order may be frustrating for bars and restaurants that sell alcohol, but the intent is to prevent the city from reverting to Safer at Home Level 3, which would place a further burden on local businesses.”
Boulder County Public Health on Thursday issued an order halting gatherings for Boulder residents between the ages of 18 and 22 and issued stay-at-home orders to more than 30 University Hill residences in an effort to slow the coronavirus spread.
The city’s alcohol sales order “is intended to slow the increasing spread of coronavirus among young people in Boulder. This order was not meant to address behavior inside homes,” city spokesperson Shannon Aulabaugh said.
Public health spokesperson Chana Goussetis said the department also hopes the order helps slow the virus “by reducing opportunities for folks to gather and be in close proximity, which makes it easy for the virus to spread.”
But for bar and restaurant owners, the city’s order “is just another nail in the coffin,” said Boulder liquor licensing attorney Mike Laszlo.
“So much of sales of alcohol, for bars especially, come in weekends: Thursday, Friday, Saturday,” he said. “The state already had an 11 p.m. curfew, now 10 p.m. is definitely going to hurt businesses.”
Laszlo said he’s fearful what will happen to bars and restaurants in the future.
“I know how seriously they’re taking this pandemic,” he said. “These restaurants are trying hard to do everything right. They are going to go out of business … We think it’s bad now, wait until next year.”
When the county was under state stay-at-home orders in the spring months as the virus unfolded, some CU Boulder students still threw parties.
Boulder police over the St. Patrick’s Day weekend say they received about 20 noise or party complaints and issued at least four nuisance party violations.
In May, students held graduation parties on the Hill, and officials chose to take an “educational approach.”
“We continue to take an educational approach to this, rather than issue violations,” Boulder Police Department spokesperson Laurie Ogden told the Daily Camera at the time.
CU Boulder on Wednesday shifted to remote learning to curb the coronavirus spread on campus — the same day Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment declared a coronavirus outbreak at the university. The data, updated Wednesday, shows 12 staff members and 1,198 attendees, or students, had tested positive for the virus.
