ASPEN, Colo. — This summer in Aspen is likely to include indoor and outdoor concerts, maskless gatherings and no state or county-mandated restrictions on social distancing at restaurants or anywhere else.
And while it may not be the good ol’ days of 2019 — indoor facemasks will almost certainly still be required and the fun could stop abruptly if hospital capacity is threatened — it should be a far cry from the not-so-great COVID-19 summer of 2020, Pitkin County Manager Jon Peacock said Monday.
> Video above from May 3: Colorado businesses planning for relaxed mask order.
“We’re talking about moving from requirements to recommendations … starting Memorial Day,” Peacock said. “We will keep our (COVID-19) Dial with our incidence rates … and we will still have the colors. But we won’t have any restrictions tied to the Dial (color) level.”
That general guideline will underpin the recommendations local public health officials will present Thursday to members of the Pitkin County Board of Health, who will make the final determination about what the upcoming summer will look like.
“We’re still recommending 6-foot distancing, but we’re not requiring it,” Peacock said. “So restaurants can make a market call and say, ‘What are our customers looking for here?’ Some want that.”
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