Which Businesses are Considered Essential in Denver During the COVID-19 Stay at Home Order
The world has gone from hustling and bustling, concerts on the weekends, park sports on the weekdays, packed malls and restaurants, to empty streets and governments ordering businesses to close and people to stay home to fight the spread of a serious virus.
Many counties in Colorado, including Denver, have issued a strict stay at home order. This entails closures of non-essential businesses, only partaking in necessary activities such as going to work, the store, or the doctors, and ordering extreme social distancing. This has all come very sudden but if we take the stay at home order seriously, the quicker things will get back to normal.
With such chaos comes confusion, however, we’re here to clear things up for you! If you are working for a business that is still up and running, have lost your job from the repercussions of the virus, or even own a business, you might be wondering, “Which businesses are considered essential during this time?”
According to colorado.gov, it is important that Coloradans know the order does not apply to:
- Grocery stores
- Gas stations
- Pharmacies
- Police stations
- Fire stations
- Hospitals, clinics and healthcare operations
- Garbage/sanitation
- Public transportation
- Public benefits (i.e. SNAP, Medicaid) hotlines
- Grocery and meal delivery, drive-through, and takeout options.
- Liquor and cannabis stores.
- Health care.
- Transportation.
- Please see the order itself for the full list of exempted businesses.
COVID-19 spreads person to person and is highly contagious.
As for everyone else, you must stay home whenever possible. This lessens social interactions and will lessen the spread of the virus. It is important that those with COVID-19 symptoms self-isolate until a negative test result is presented.
Here are a couple of key things you should keep in mind:
- Working from home is encouraged if possible
- Social distancing must be in place for those businesses that do stay open.
- Restaurants and bars are closed for in house seating, however, takeout/delivery is permitted.
- All social gatherings of any size are prohibited other than critical business or government functions.
- Cannabis and liquor stores remain open.
- Places of worship remain open but must practice social distancing.
- Again, all but necessary travel is prohibited.
You can find more information about the virus and the stay at home order on covid19.colorado.gov.
We at Denver Digital wish everyone good health! The sooner we get a grip on the spread of COVID-19, the sooner all of our lives will go back to normal.
