Too bad. The rule is ridiculous. 85% of Covid deaths are in people over 65. They should pass a law then that those people can’t go out, because of Covid. What has this country come to? This is why we can’t get people to wear masks and do sensible things, because it always goes too far. This rule says that a 22 year old adult can’t go out with his S.O. ANYWHERE? They cant go to the doctor? Church? Grocery shopping? We are a mess.
Edited to add - you can’t even go out with your parents!
Q: I am not subject to Stay-at-Home. Can I go out to eat with an older friend or family member who is also not subject to this Order?
A: If you are a person between the ages of 18-22 year, then eating or dining with another person is a gathering prohibited by this Order.
Boulder has had a no gathering over 10 order for months. They couldn’t enforce that and the parties on the hill continued. If they can’t stop large gatherings, it’s hard to believe that this order will do anything more than punish rule followers who’d like to go for a walk or shopping with their roommate. The fact that they didn’t exclude people in your same household makes it completely contrary to any scientific basis whatsoever. If the university had enacted it for their students, I would find it an over reach, but as a community order for those completely unaffiliated with the university it’s beyond an over reach.
And I know dozens of people with their 18-22 year old children currently living at home as their particular college is remote who are livid. They can’t go out to dinner as a family, or go for a hike with their sibling.
I find it interesting to read about colleges already going online for spring when I know of several private colleges that are fully in person and haven’t closed.
Truth is, these schools only test symptomatic students and quarantine others. But now there is a culture of “don’t ask, don’t tell” where students are hiding things. Some secretly get tested off campus while others don’t seek testing at all even if they have mild symptoms.
And because the school gives the students a choice to fully quarantine for the 14 days or get tested, their positive numbers are so low that the local community doesn’t get alarmed.
"The Order also requires residents at 36 identified properties within the City of Boulder to stay at their homes residence or at least 14 days. These residents may only leave for certain essential activities, which include:
To seek medical care, including COVID-19 testing
To obtain necessary supplies using curbside pickup or contactless delivery only. - Necessary supplies include food, pet supply, medical supplies, and products necessary to maintain the safety, sanitation, and essential operation of a residence
To engage in outdoor activity exercise (e.g. walking, hiking, biking, running, etc.) alone, and able to maintain at least six (6) feet distance from all other persons at all times."
They are targeting these residences because they have repeatedly ignored the requests to comply with initial rules around not throwing large parties.
I live in Boulder and I know many stories of students intentionally going out to a party after they test positive. These types of behaviors are also all over social media. It is sad that bad behavior of a subset of students has made things so difficult for the whole community. Keep in mind, I have kids in the local public schools and it impacts decisions around whether our students can go back to school (we are fully remote now and they are trying to let the young kids go back in person).
CU Boulder did not do much enforcement in the beginning but now they are being pressured to employ consequences for breaking public health regs.
My read is that many students are happy with this order because they want the rule breakers to stop partying so much.
Presumably, they can go individually. Just can’t be together. All sorts of logistics – how do they go to work if only one car? Not everyone 18-22 is a student offender.
Hmm… no, the rule to go to doctor is for the people confine to the 36 addresses. Not all the 18-22 year old.
Question - what if you are 18-22 year old but NOT a student. In fact nothing to do with CU Boulder. Would you be happy being restricted?
Sure, its just 14 days, what’s the big deal? What if the Health Officer extends for another month. Or tweaks it so next month you can do A but not B,C,D.
But yes, sounds good then, if nearly everyone 18-22 living in Boulder is happy with the order!
So, generally, as long as an ordinance is “rationally related” to its purpose, it will be upheld – if young people have been shown to be the leading factor in a spike through the refusal to comply with limits on the size of gatherings etc., then I’m guessing the Boulder ordinance is “rationally related” to the legitimate aim of controlling the outbreak in order to protect public health. Government action which impacts groups which have historically been discriminated against – on the basis of race and sex – has to meet a higher standard to “pass scrutiny.” But 18-22 year olds are not in those classes so the ordinance likely just has to be “rationally related” to a legitimate government purpose.
Still seems like BC is under testing. My nephew and 4 of his roommates (out of 8 suite mates) tested positive this week. A little achy nothing else. On the dash board it says there are 10 positives for this week. So he and roommates make up half of all positives so far out of a population of 9000+? Guess it’s possible, just doesn’t seem probable.
As far as the Boulder situation, sounds like the usual lockdown protocols. If the kids are repeatedly ignoring the rules they can’t be surprised when there are consequences. Is it open ended? If that’s the case it may not stand up to legal challenges.
For those 18-22 and not under the stay at home order, they can do the same things as everyone else, just alone and properly distanced.
Right now conditions are headed toward a county wide stay at home order for everyone. I’m pretty confident Boulder residents would prefer this step if it helps prevent that, and allows younger kids to return to school as well as businesses to stay open.
I would argue that Social media is a more powerful political tool today than the vote, which young people dominate. See the #metoo movement. When an issue really angers people and “trends” decisions can change rapidly.
If the story of this targeted lockdown anger generation Z around the country and world then we will soon know.
So two adults 18-22 can’t walk down the street together. That is contrary to all safety rules women are taught from the first day of being on campus. Coming off work? Walk with a friend or call for a safety ride. I never walked to my sorority house alone at night and it was a safe neighborhood but anything can happen (it was 3 bocks from JonBenet Ramsey’s house).
This would also prevent 18-22 year olds from taking the bus or Uber. They can transport a la Star Trek to a job and then be near other people, but can’t get to those jobs on public transportation or in a car with another person?
My issue is the order is MORE restrictive than any shelter in place order I’ve seen. Where have people living together not been able to get in a car together? Or walk in their neighborhood. And to reiterate this isn’t for the university students - it’s for the entire city of Boulder. So the kid who took a gap year, or is in their bedroom taking classes remotely from home - can’t go outside with their parents??? It’s asinine.
My oldest is living at home and taking classes online at a different school, and she is fine with it. It’s only the city, so she can meet up with friends in Denver if she wanted to.