Bob McDonald, executive director of Denver’s Department of Public Health and Environment, makes a point during a news conference to explain the city’s plan to allow businesses to reopen as the city’s stay-at-home order to stem the rise of the new coronavirus expires later this week on Tuesday, May 5, 2020, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) 
Dr. Connie Price, chief medical of Denver Health, makes a point during a news conference to explain the city’s plan to allow businesses to reopen as the city’s stay-at-home order to stem the rise of the new coronavirus expires later this week on Tuesday, May 5, 2020, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) 
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock makes a point during a news conference to explain the city’s plan to allow businesses to reopen as the city’s stay-at-home order to stem the rise of the new coronavirus expires later this week on Tuesday, May 5, 2020, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) 
Denver Police Department Chief Paul Pazen, left, wears a face mask while waiting for Denver Mayor Michael Hancock to enter a news conference to explain the city’s plan to allow businesses to reopen as the city’s stay-at-home order to stem the rise of the new coronavirus expires later this week on Tuesday, May 5, 2020, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski) 
Thirteenth Street is almost empty in the middle of the afternoon as residents follow the city’s stay-at-home order to stem the rise of the new coronavirus that expires later this week Tuesday, May 5, 2020, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
DENVER | Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said Tuesday the city’s stay-at-home order will expire at the end of the week, allowing an array of businesses to reopen with strict social distancing rules.
Aurora, through Tri-County Health, which governs Arapahoe, Adams and Douglas counties, will issue its own guidelines this week. However, Tri-County, Denver, Jefferson and Boulder counties have mostly aligned rules and regulations.
Denver and Boulder, however, are the only counties so far to impose a mask mandate.
Beginning Saturday, offices and retail stores can reopen with half the usual staff, and businesses like hair and nail salons, tattoo parlors and pet groomers can reopen as long as they are by appointment only. Some businesses like dine-in restaurants, bars, movie theaters and gyms will remain closed, and gatherings of more than 10 people will be prohibited through May 26.
“Saturday may feel like we’re taking small steps forward, but it is progress,” Hancock said.
The mayor’s stay-at-home order went beyond the state’s, which expired April 26 and was replaced by a safer-at-home order that eased some restrictions on businesses. Hancock’s office has said that extending the order allowed city leaders to coordinate with regional health officials, prepare more specific guidelines for businesses and improve testing for the coronavirus.
The imminent change comes as the state recorded 903 deaths so far attributed to COVID-19.
Statewide summary for Tuesday
• 17,364 tested cases
• 2,919 hospitalized
• 85,976 total tested
• 170 recorded outbreaks
• 903 deaths
On Wednesday, Denver will join a handful of cities requiring people to wear a face covering in certain public areas, including at businesses, while waiting for and riding public transportation and at health care facilities and dentist offices.
“I am confident that the people Denver understand that we are living in extraordinary times, and extraordinary measures are justified,” Hancock said.
Denver has seen a decline in hospital patients with the coronavirus in the last two weeks, but city and county health officials said they still need to increase testing and hire more contact tracers to see how the disease spreads.
Bob McDonald, executive director of the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment, said 45 contact tracers are currently being trained with the goal of hiring up to 100.
“These last two weeks of our stay-at-home order have been really critical, and I feel in a much better place now than we were in a couple of weeks ago,” he said.
Even though Denver is making progress from a health standpoint, Hancock warned of financial fallout.
He said the city is expected to lose at least $180 million in revenue during the outbreak, and he has sent a letter to Colorado’s congressional delegation urging them to include direct funding to cities in the next stimulus package.
“If our cities cannot provide basic services and recover sufficiently, there will be no national economic recovery,” he said.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. The vast majority of people recover.