As coronavirus cases spike across the metro area, Denver slid into a higher level of restriction Tuesday, a move that will recommend schools move online and capacity within public spaces tightly curtailed.

“This is what we get when we don’t have a national strategy, where we’re piecemealing the approaches, where states like Colorado took this seriously and others took the approach, similar to what our leadership in Washington has advised, pretending that there was no pandemic,” Denver Mayor Michael Hancock said at a Tuesday press conference announcing the change. “Had we followed science, had we all worked together on a national strategy, the story might be different today.”

Under the second-highest tier of restrictions, Denver’s gyms may close, Denver Public Schools will be recommended to stop in-person learning and the number of people who can gather together in places of worship, businesses, restaurants, retail stores and other public-faced businesses will be limited 25% capacity.

Bob McDonald, the executive director of Denver Public Health and Environment, said officials here are still having conversations with the state about whether gyms can remain open in some way. He said it was a consideration being made for Denverites’ mental health.

He and Hancock both said that there’s no single driver of this current spike — though McDonald showed a picture of a group of young people, holding bottles and huddled together for a picture indoors, as a sign of what not to do — and that the general nature of transmission now means restrictions must be applied across the board.

Asked about Denver Public Schools, which reopened for elementary students last week but paused returning older students, McDonald said no decision has been made on whether to move entirely online. A spokeswoman for the district said an announcement would likely be released later Tuesday.

Hancock praised Denver residents, saying that most have worn masks and made personal sacrifices to the blunt the spread. But he said the city was “not an island,” and that as the economy has reopened, commuters and travelers from elsewhere have exacerbated the situation here.

Denver warns of new stay-at-home order as COVID-19 cases spike

Denver confirmed 375 cases Sunday, the most of any single day since the pandemic began. The previous high was set Saturday, which beat a record set Friday. 

Hospitalizations, while well below spring levels, are rising to degrees unseen since the early days of the pandemic. But McDonald warned that under the current trajectory, hospitals will face capacity problems within the next few weeks.

Ninety-eight people have been hospitalized in the city as of Sunday, the highest mark since late May.

Hancock said that in order for Denver to climb out of its new restrictions — let alone falling into a shelter-in-place order — it will have to lower its positivity rate, hospitalization numbers and the number of cases confirmed each day. Those improved trends will also have to hold for two weeks. 

“These are not political words or political posturing,” the mayor said. “This isn’t fearmongering. That’s just how the virus works.”

He repeatedly likened the situation — and the months-long effort to avoid further spread and death — to pushing a boulder up a hill. He warned that if Denver continues to slide, the boulder will roll backwards on top of the city. 

Both he and McDonald warned against “COVID fatigue,” which officials across the state, from public health workers to school board members, have said are contributing to this recent spike. Hancock said Denver residents needed to “fight like hell” and put “their shoulders into” the boulder in order to stop the spread.

In a bid to slow the spread, Hancock earlier this month announced that masks are required in outdoor and indoor spaces, and the number of unrelated people who could gather was capped at five instead of 10.

Both of those measures were tighter than the state’s mandates.

Now, if Denver drops further, it will be under a stay-at-home order, something that Hancock said officials are attempting to avoid at all costs.

The mayor stressed repeatedly that the new restrictions do not make voting centers less safe and that people should continue to exercise that right. 

McDonald signed off by noting that last call will be moved up to 10 p.m., and Hancock quipped that liquor stores remain open.