With a sharp uptick in coronavirus cases across Denver, new public health orders are on their way, a spokeswoman from the Department of Public Health and Environment confirmed Wednesday afternoon. 

“The team is working on the updated public health orders and we’ll release when final, possibly tomorrow, but not confirmed,” spokeswoman Ann Cecchine-Williams said in an email to Colorado Politics. 

Throughout the pandemic, Denver’s face-mask rules have aligned with state orders but remained more restrictive.

On Monday, Gov. Jared Polis extended the statewide mask order by another 30 days and granted a waiver for “certain indoor activities that take place for a limited time period if such activities cannot practically or safely be performed while wearing a mask.”

The move comes as Colorado’s seven-day positivity rate for COVID-19 testing sits at 3.9%, the highest level since July and a red flag the state may be ushering in a third wave of the virus. 

In Denver, the case rate is as high as it was at the height of the pandemic, city leaders said Monday. The city’s seven-day positivity rate is hovering between 4% and 4.5%.

A rate of over 5% would mean “a great deal of trouble,” Mayor Michael Hancock said.

Denver officials tightened the city’s mask order in July in response to a resurgence of the virus across Colorado. The updated restrictions fell in line with Polis’ statewide order at the time, which mandated individuals age 11 and older wear a mask while in most public indoor spaces. 

Denver’s rules, however, called for face coverings for anyone age 3 and older, and also required owners, operators or managers of public indoor spaces put up signs in a “conspicuous place at every public entrance,” using a template provided by the city.

“Let me be clear, if our numbers keep going in the direction they’re going, we could be forced to go backwards,” Hancock warned Monday. 

Health experts at all levels of government continue to urge people to practice social distancing and wear face masks in public as much as possible. 

“Face coverings work. They work. Science has proven that,” said Bob McDonald, executive director of Denver’s Department of Public Health and Environment.