Denver will reopen its emergency operations center to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine and starting next week will allow businesses to apply for eased restrictions so long as they meet certain requirements, Mayor Michael Hancock announced Thursday.
The emergency operations center — first opened in March — will handle logistics for vaccine distribution, including ensuring the shots are given out equitably, Hancock said.
Already, the state’s vaccine rollout has left many elderly residents frustrated and early data shows Coloradans of color are receiving their vaccine shots less than their white peers.
Denver’s Public Health Director, Bob McDonald, said six or seven outreach teams will put a particular focus at-risk populations, including vaccinating people experiencing homelessness.
“We can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Hancock said, adding that states are expecting a 16% increase in supply of vaccine doses. “But we have a lot, a lot — I mean a lot — of work to do in the coming months.”
Denver doesn’t have much control over who can be vaccinated and when, McDonald said, because that’s the state’s purview. Hancock said he asked President Joe Biden’s administration to give new doses directly to Denver rather than having to go through the state.
Unlike some members of the state legislature, Hancock has not received his vaccination shots, and won’t until he is eligible, spokesman Michael Strott said. Only Councilman Paul Kashmann has received his first vaccine dose because he is over 70 and eligible, City Council Administrator Stacy Simonet said, adding Kashmann will get his second in early February.
City public health officials did not immediately respond to a question about which essential city workers might qualify for early vaccinations — or whether anyone will.
And as vaccination efforts ramp up, Hancock said he wants to get the local economy back up with a small number of early applications for the state’s 5 Star Certification Program, which allows businesses to operate with eased COVID-19 restrictions so long as they meet other advanced safety guidelines.
Eric Hiraga, executive director of Denver’s Office of Economic Development, said a first round of 500 businesses will be accepted for those more lenient regulations. Applications will open at 10 a.m. Feb. 2 at denverfivestar.org.
Hiraga called the program a “game changer” and said businesses applying must also schedule an onsite audit and pass before they are accepted into the program.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
