Larimer County Limits Restaurants, Gyms in Friday Emergency Order

Larimer County came out with a new emergency health order on Friday (Nov. 13) night.

The order puts more restrictions on restaurants, bars gyms and sporting events as COVID-19 numbers in Northern Colorado surge. The order went into effect at 11 p.m. on Friday, and is intended to slow the virus spread and make sure there's enough space for all patients at local hospitals.

“Right now we need to wear masks and follow these protocols in order to keep our businesses open and our hospital beds available,” said Larimer County Commissioner Steve Johnson in the press release.

“We want our hospitals to be able to continue to provide high quality care, and to do so we need to be diligent in protecting our community from this virus.”

Here's the most recent changes:

Restaurants:

• Indoor dining is limited to a maximum of eight people per table. Residents are encouraged to have no more than two households per table. Restaurants are still required to follow all other State of Colorado COVID-19 Dial Level Yellow requirements.
• No food or beverage service at bars. Customers may not stand or sit at bar. Tableside service is allowed.
• Once the capacity for restaurants and bars is met, reservations are required. No indoor waiting areas for restaurants or bars.
• Restaurants and bars are now required to collect contact information for customers and provide LCDHE with that information weekly at larimer.org/health.

Sports and gyms:

• Organized recreational and league sports are limited to 2 spectators per player with no more than 50% of capacity, up to 50 spectators in indoor facilities and 175 in outdoor facilities.
• Gyms are required to provide attendance for classes that take place in their facility. This includes any class operated with 5 or more people. These attendance lists must be submitted at larimer.org/health and need to be completed weekly.