December 8, 2020
Dear Colorado Faith Leaders,
Thank you for your leadership and engagement during this difficult time. We appreciate that so many of you were able to join our webinar with Governor Polis yesterday, and hope that this follow up email is helpful for you and your colleagues.
Worship and ceremonies such as weddings and funerals are classified as critical. This means that they must do their best to follow public health recommendations but may make exceptions if they cannot conduct their essential activity within those restrictions. They still must require masks indoors and other prevention measures like 6 foot spacing between members of different households and appropriate sanitation.
While this does give houses of worship some additional flexibility, given the alarming rise in cases and hospitalizations -- an estimated 1 in 40 Coloradans are currently contagious with COVID-19 -- we are still strongly recommending outdoor, online, or small group worship at this time. We encourage you to review CDPHE’s events guidance to give you an indication about what our public health experts are recommending as safe gathering levels, given the level of virus in your community.
There is reason for hope as we look ahead, but we anticipate that December and January may be the most challenging months that we face of the entire pandemic. We thank you all for your partnership.
Here are a few helpful updates:
· Join Biweekly Briefings with State Epidemiologist, Dr. Herlihy and COVID-19 Incident Commander, Scott Bookman
Click here to access a full list of upcoming briefings
· Updates to the Public Health Order for places of worship:
· COVID-19 Epidemiology Updates
Click here to view recent COVID-19 updates
· Exposure Notifications
Exposure Notifications will help us contact trace more cases across Colorado
Visit www.AddYourPhone.com to learn more!
· With cases continuing to rise, keep in mind this COVID safety information:
Limit contact with those you don’t live with
Wear a face covering around other people
Maintain 6’ distance from other people
Keep events and gatherings outside as much as possible
Please reach out with any questions!
Xander Martin
Deputy Coordinator for COVID-19 Response, Stakeholder Engagement
Xander.Martin@state.co.us | www.colorado.gov/governor
Under the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA), all messages sent by or to me on this state-owned e-mail account may be subject to public disclosure.
December 7, 2020 Public Health Order Press Release Update
Third Amended Public Health Order 20-36 COVID-19 DIAL
Governor Jared Polis COVID-19 Update slides