Mask usage increasing, now mandated by state

Laura Harris went shopping for masks last week at the L&P in Boulder. The grocery store not only sells surgical-style face masks, but it recently added a display rack of more fashionable face coverings, designed to forgo with the ear loops — a feature Harris was interested in. She snapped up several.

More people in Jefferson County are now wearing masks — particularly since cases of COVID-19 are increasing in the state — and in Jefferson County. Some businesses are also either returning to Phase I restrictions or adding new protective gear for customers and employees.

Those changes were being made voluntarily and prior to Gov. Steve Bullock’s mandate Wednesday that people over age 5 wear masks while indoors in public spaces and outdoors where social distancing is not possible. The mask mandate applies to counties with four or more active cases. That includes Jefferson County, where infections have been rising over the past week to 12 active COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday.