Colorado extends alcohol sales until midnight as part of the Safer At Home phase.
On Sunday, Governor Jared Polis announced an executive order that allows bars and restaurants in certain counties to serve alcohol until midnight.
A month ago, Gov. Polis extended the last call time from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. Now, Colorado will use a tiered system to decide the last call times for each county:
- "Level 1" will be for counties that have a last call of midnight.
- "Level 2" will stay with a last call of 11 p.m.
Counties that currently fall under "Level 1" include Douglas, Park, Clear Creek, Teller, Arapahoe, and others. Denver County, Summit, Boulder, Broomfield, and Eagle are at "Level 2".
The state's tiered system is assigned based on the COVID-19 trends and risk factors in each county. If the trends show a consistent decrease, the county can move into the Protect Our Neighbors phase, which indicates the county has the ability to contain surges in cases and outbreaks through testing, case investigation, and contact tracing. The majority of counties that are in this phase are located in Western Colorado. The Protect our Neighbors phase allows the counties to set their own last call times as long as it doesn't go beyond 2 a.m.
Throughout the summer, Gov. Polis has issued several executive orders to limit the last call time for serving alcohol. The orders were placed to limit social gatherings that could bring surges of COVID-19 cases to the state.
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