BOULDER COUNTY, CO: The Boulder County 5 Star Program Administrative Committee today announced it has submitted its program application to Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment having received support from all required stakeholders – Boulder County Public Health, Boulder County Commissioners, hospitals across the County, and law enforcement. The local 5 Star Program Administrative Committee consists of economic development leaders, municipal, county, and public health staff, elected officials, and hospital executives. The Committee is responsible for the oversight and management of the 5 Star program.

Commissioner Matt Jones stated, “Boulder County appreciates the tremendous amount of work the county’s economic development leaders have invested in developing a 5 Star Program that meets Boulder County’s and Boulder County Public Health’s priority of protecting the public’s health while also supporting the survival of local businesses.”

Initially drafted through a partnership between the Boulder Chamber and Longmont Economic Development Partnership (EDP), with support from the Boulder County Commissioners and Boulder County Public Health, upon CDPHE approval, the 5 Star Certification program will allow Boulder County businesses to accelerate and expand their reopening by implementing safety measures beyond what is required by public health orders and additional guidelines designed to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The Colorado 5 Star Certification Program is designed to allow certified (inspected and compliant with the program’s criteria) businesses to operate one level below the county’s current state COVID dial level if the county meets four specific public health criteria. The public health metrics are:

• A two-week incidence rate in the appropriate dial level for all of the past 7 days
• A two-week percent positivity in the appropriate dial level for all of the past 7 days
• Under 90% of regional ICU beds in use, and days of stable or declining hospitalizations in the past two weeks in the appropriate dial level

Since Boulder County has not sustained “Orange Level” metrics in its two-week COVID-19 incidence for the required amount of time, a 5 Star Program could not yet allow businesses to operate at a lower level on the dial; however, the Administrative Committee supports submitting the request to operate a local program now to allow the Committee time to establish and build the program so that once all metrics are met, certified businesses would be allowed to operate at a less restrictive level.

Boulder County’s 5 Star Certification Program application proposes to employ the services of a third-party vendor, Longmont-based H2 Manufacturing Solutions. This proposed third-party vendor solution leverages a safety certification system developed by H2 and the COVID-19 Manufacturing Task Force that first convened in March and included members from Boulder County Public Health and Longmont Economic Development Partnership. It is the same model as has already been approved for the Denver Five Star Certification program, giving the Boulder County Administrative Committee a high level of confidence that it, too, will receive CDPHE approval for the program.

The proposed Boulder County 5 Star Certification Program uses a “train the trainer” model and is currently recruiting approximately 75 volunteers from across the County to serve as trained auditors and administrators for the program. Efforts are underway to identify government agencies and private businesses with underutilized employees due to COVID-19, or who are looking for opportunities to fulfill their corporate social responsibility mission and are willing to repurpose their staff team members as safety certification inspectors. Bilingual and multi-lingual volunteers are encouraged to apply. As part of the program, H2 would provide ongoing oversight and auditing of inspectors to ensure the highest level of integrity.

Any business interested in being certified through the Boulder County 5 Star Program can fill out the following form and will be alerted to when the business application is available: bit.ly/BOCOFiveStarInterest.

This form can also be used for businesses and agencies to express interest in supporting the program with paid employees or volunteers.

Learn more about the Boulder County 5 Star Certification program at: https://boulderchamber.com/boco-five-star/.