Denver isn’t re-instituting any of its COVID-19 measures in the wake of new masking guidelines from the federal government, while other metro-area counties are waiting to see how the state responds to the recommendations.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday advised even vaccinated Americans to wear masks indoors in counties with high rates of transmission. Under the CDC’s benchmarks, data from the state Department of Public Health and Environment shows residents of every county in the metro should be masking. 

The largest part of the metro area, Denver itself, isn’t changing anything, at least not yet. Bob McDonald, executive director of the city’s Department of Public Health and Environment, said in a statement Wednesday officials will “make a data-driven approach and will be careful and thoughtful as we evaluate next steps,” but that “at this time there is no change to our existing public health order.”

Denver, like much of the state, saw a steady decline in cases and hospitalizations after the most recent peak in late April and early May. That downturn had held for more than two months, but it’s reversed in recent days. Numbers are still far below any other spike, but the state is now reporting more cases on average per day than at any point in the past two months. 

Much of the state and metro area largely ended COVID-19 mitigation efforts after the state health department in the spring gave counties the role of driving the pandemic response. Denver’s vaccination rate is high — over 70% — but a health official said last week that the latest spike in cases is being driven by the delta variant, which has “broken through” to infect some vaccinated people.

Angela Simental, spokeswoman for Boulder County Public Health, said the agency was “awaiting the official publication of updated mask guidance” from the federal government and state. 

“When that official guidance is available, we will review our current guidelines,” she said in a statement Wednesday morning.

Simental said the county had continued to recommend masking, noting that “… Given that the more transmissible Delta variant is widely circulating in our state, we support and strongly recommend mask-wearing as a precaution for anyone in indoor public spaces regardless of vaccination status.” 

The Tri-County Health Department, which oversees Arapahoe, Douglas and Adams counties, is in a similar position. The agency issued a statement last week reporting it had seen a substantial increase in cases. Cases in Adams County had increased 155% in its per-100,000 rate since late June.

Tri-County had “closely followed” the new CDC guidance and is awaiting for “official publication and subsequent comments from (the state health department) for any additional guidance for the counties in our district,” agency spokesman Gary Sky said in an email.

The three counties under Tri-County’s umbrella qualify for more masking under the CDC’s guidance. And given the jump in cases, the health officials “support enhanced mask-wearing in the settings recommended by CDC while we work with our communities on our most effective strategy: increasing our vaccination rates as quickly as possible,” Sky said.