On the verge of winter’s official arrival on Monday, state health officials have modified the requirements for outdoor dining structures. 

Guidelines set by the Colorado Department of Health and Environment now require outdoor dining areas to have two non-adjacent sides completely open from the floor to the ceiling or side to side, according to the state’s new posting.

Partial safety barriers or connection points for roll-up walls are the only exceptions allowed. 

Officials cite studies showing that open air ventilation allows droplets containing the COVID-19 virus to disperse rapidly “to low concentrations and move ‘out’ of the space.”

In an email acquired by The Denver Gazette on Friday, Tammy Vigil, a spokeswoman for Denver Department of Public Health and Environment, informed restaurant owners of the changes. 

“The updated guidance reinforces what Denver Department of Public Health & Environment (DDPHE) has already communicated to Denver Restaurants … while this presents challenges to comfortable dining, it prioritizes the control measure that is necessary to prevent transmission of COVID,” Vigil wrote.

Previously, CDPHE required outdoor dining structures to have two non-adjacent sides open to provide airflow throughout the space, but did not specify the size of the opening. 

Blake Street Tavern Owner Chris Fuselier says he is receiving over $17,000 as part as Denver’s 2020 Temporary Outdoor Expansion Assistance Program, but he says the change in requirements counteracts that assistance.

“It’s really fool’s gold, because Colorado’s weather from now through April averages under 50-degrees and at nighttime it averages below 40,” Fuselier said. “No one’s going to go out to dinner when you’re freezing your butt off like that, and (the changes) are essentially putting a ban on outdoor dining, too.”

Fuselier later shared on social media that he feels he has no choice but to shut down on Jan. 1.

“To announce I’m closing our business (I’m praying it is temporary) and furlough another 25 staff before Xmas, there are no words to describe,” he posted on Twitter. “Regrettably, BST ran out of bullets and COVID’s economic consequences sidelined us.”

Even though the requirement of all outdoor dining areas to have completely open sides applies to all of Colorado’s 64 counties, enforcement of these COVID-19 regulations varies. 

If the Tri-County Health Department or Boulder County Health Department receive a complaint about a business defying regulations, officials said they will attempt to educate them before sending an investigator. 

“We … first educate the business on the requirements and provide technical assistance. This is done over the phone with consultation,” Becky O’Guin, the strategic communications manager for Tri-County Health, said in an email statement to The Denver Gazette.

“Continued non-compliance may result in further action such as a formal warning or Order To Close.”

Other agencies, like DDPHE, will “investigate those complaints to verify there is indeed a violation. If so, our investigators will cite the business owner,” send  said Vigil in an email statement to The Denver Gazette. 

“These restaurants are struggling enough, but having conversations and dialogue before just coming in with citations and (shutting a place down) could go a long way,” said Josh Wolkon, the owner of Steuben’s.

As of Friday evening, DDPHE has issued 253 citations and has closed 22 businesses, Vigil said. 

Despite agreeing with several measures the Gov. Jared Polis has taken throughout the pandemic, Kentucky Inn owner Jim Armstrong says the new guidelines continue to target the restaurant industry.

“It bothers the hell out of me that you can go to Walmart and there’s 500 people. You go to Home Depot and there’s 500 people. You go to a grocery store and there’s 500 people, yet, we’re somehow deemed bad guys?” Armstrong said.

“I truly appreciate and applaud the government’s efforts, they’re trying to do something and feel they have to do something, but the last time I check it’s not July, it’s December and whose going to want to sit out (in the cold).” 

All of the business owners interviewed said they will comply with the changes, and can only hope that their local customers continue to bundle-up and embrace the cool temperatures.

“It just comes down to what our weather’s like and our guests’ tolerance for a few degrees less, you know,” Wolkon said.

“Hopefully our guests continue to dress warm and embrace the weather, but we’ll have to wait and see.”