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Fear of economic ruin makes Colorado leaders hesitant to issue stay-at-home order as COVID-19 spreads uncontrolled

Alex Bruness
The Denver Post
Gov. Jared Polis, right, announces a statewide mask mandate on July 16. He is flanked by Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman. Economic concerns have kept state leadership from calling for a full lockdown as COVID-19 cases rise.

When Gov. Jared Polis issued a statewide stay-at-home order in March, he did so with the knowledge that federal coronavirus relief — including $1,200 checks, $600 weekly unemployment benefits and small business loans — would buoy a wide range of Coloradans facing economic ruin and all that can come with it: hunger, housing instability, mental health crises, joblessness.

Things are even worse today, virus-wise, than they were when he issued that order, which shut down the majority of retail business in the state for more than a month and preceded a temporary flattening of the COVID-19 curve in Colorado. But this time, there’s no federal financial safety net, since Congress has failed to agree on a new stimulus package.

In interviews with The Denver Post, Polis, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, Congressman Ed Perlmutter and several top state budget officials acknowledged that it would be easier for Colorado leaders to pull the trigger on stay-at-home orders they know could save lives if that safety net were still there.



Read the full article at The Denver Post.


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