Boulder County restaurants offered indoor dining Monday for the first time since November, a change made possible by Gov. Jared Polis’ decision to ease coronavirus restrictions for “level red” counties despite their not meeting the criteria to do so.

Boulder County was among the 26 level red counties that Polis, in social media posts Wednesday night, asked the state Department of Public Health and Environment to move to the less restrictive level orange starting Monday. Polis cited a statewide decline in cases for 13 days and “only” 73% of intensive care beds being occupied.

Pica’s Mexican Taqueria server Alex Rozman serves dine-in customers Mary Davidson and Richard Cooper on Monday in Boulder. (Timothy Hurst/Staff Photographer)

Along with indoor dining, level orange allows for limited indoor seated events and entertainment and expanded capacity for gyms and offices. Last call for alcoholic beverages is extended to 10 p.m. — though bars are still closed — and personal gatherings of up to 10 people from two households are allowed.

Boulder County has seen fewer new cases and lower test positivity since a surge in November, but needed to sustain those lower numbers for at least two weeks to be eligible to move to lower restrictions.

The state’s decision was met with gratitude by business owners on Monday and with caution by local public health officials.

“We have some concerns about this move because we don’t yet know what the outcome of the holidays will be in terms of spread and new cases,” said Boulder County Public Health Executive Director Jeff Zayach in a statement. “But we will follow the state’s move and will not put a local public health order in place. Hopefully, we’ve all only been spending time with our own household and we won’t experience another surge in a week or two.”

Polis’ announcement came one day after Colorado reported the United States’ first case of a highly contagious COVID-19 variant, which is believed to be 70% more contagious but does not produce more severe symptoms.

Boulder County can put its own public health order in place to supersede the state order if officials believe it’s the best thing to do for the safety of the community, said spokesperson Chana Goussetis in an email.

“However, we believe it’s important to be aligned with the surrounding counties and will likely only make any changes as a region,” she wrote.

The dining room at Mike O’Shays in Longmont was prepared for customers on Monday, and owner Rueben Verplank said the restaurant is following state restrictions on capacity and distancing.

“Having someone dictate that you close your business is very difficult and obviously financially very hard, so we’re excited and welcome all changes that allow us to reopen,” he said.

The change is “only good news” for business owners, said Scott Cook, CEO of the Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce.

“Of course we’re very excited about this because any direction we can move in to open up businesses further is good,” he said.

Johnny Carson and Mary Carson dine at Mike O’Shay’s in Longmont on Monday. Level orange restrictions for Boulder County allows for indoor dining in limited capacity. (Matthew Jonas/Staff Photographer)

At Pica’s in Boulder, manager Matt Peterson said he had mixed feelings about the change. Being able to offer indoor dining is good for business and makes it easier to operate during the winter, but he is personally nervous about cases increasing.

“I’m a little shocked that we’re going back to indoor dining and loosening restrictions after just a couple weeks of seeing the trends go down,” he said.

In addition to indoor dining, Pica’s will continue to offer outdoor dining on the patio and recently bought outdoor heaters to make it more comfortable. The fast-casual restaurant has weathered the pandemic relatively well, Peterson said, because community members continue to support the business through carryout.

Boulder Chamber President John Tayer said the change to level orange demonstrates that everyone benefits when people adhere to public health protections.

“I’m pleased the governor recognized the positive trends in health indicators and is working very hard to appropriately balance public health protection and our need to revitalize the economy,” Tayer said.