VALLEY– Both Rio Grande and Mineral counties will be moving from Level Yellow to Level Blue on the state’s COVID-19 color dial effective Thursday with approval by the CDPHE.

Saguache County is also at Level Blue while Alamosa, Conejos and Costilla counties remain at Level Yellow.

In an email announcement Wednesday from Leslie Anne Klusmire, Rio Grande County Administrator, businesses may implement Level Blue requirements starting Thursday morning at 6 a.m. Moving from Yellow to Blue means increased ability to operate at a larger capacity both indoors and outdoors. It is less restrictive than Level Yellow. Level Blue is for counties with low virus transmission.

Key Qualifying Level Blue Metrics:

5% or less positivity rate

15-100 cases per 100,000

No more than two new COVID-19 hospital admissions per day.

In the announcement, Dr. Kolawole Bankole, Rio Grande County Health Director, said “Thanks and we look forward to the time when we can safely operate at the green color level. Meanwhile, we encourage our community members to be conscientious and observe good public health measures, including wearing face masks, social distancing and frequent hand-washing, etc., and to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

For details on the various capacity restrictions at each level on the State Dial Color, including Level BLUE, and Rio Grande’s current Dial Report (2/17/21) please go to https://covid19.colorado.gov/data/covid-19-dial-dashboard