“Just looking around the room, you don’t feel like you’re in a pandemic,” Saddoris said. “You don’t feel that cloth on your mouth. It feels like normal.”
Saddoris’ business, Shred415 at 1895 28th St. in Boulder, is among nearly 300 Boulder County facilities that have become part of the county’s optional vaccine verification program.
Boulder County Public Health in September reinstated its mask mandate for indoor public spaces. Public Health the vaccine verification program at the end of that month. The vaccine verification program allows exemption from the mask mandate if businesses verify that at least 95% of people in the indoor space are fully vaccinated. Businesses have to be approved for the program. They can also choose to be vaccine verified some of the time and open to anyone during other time slots, but must require masks for everyone when not implementing the program.
“The 286 facilities participating in the program have reported positive feedback from staff and clients, members and guests,” said Boulder County Public Health spokesperson Angela Simental. “From large employers like Google to government entities like the city of Longmont to smaller breweries like Primitive Brewery, the program has provided an opportunity for businesses to operate safely without masking.”
Simental said participating businesses go through a “rigorous application process” to ensure that they understand and can implement the program. Boulder County Public Health’s Partner Liaison Team also conducts site visits and audits of involved businesses to assure compliance.
The program will be active so long as there is a mask order in Boulder County. The mask mandate can be lifted once the the county maintains 21 consecutive days of moderate or low transmission.
Saddoris spoke about how she planned to sign up for the program. Saddoris said this month that since receiving the approval for the program late last year, it has gone well for the business.
The studio combines cardio and strength training, using weightlifting and running on a treadmill — not impossible tasks with a mask, she noted, but certainly challenging.
“People feel very uncomfortable running with a mask on,” Saddoris said. “I think this program has allowed us to maintain those numbers, grow numbers and provide that option where they can still have a high-intensity workout running or jogging and feel normal.”
Customers who use the studio sign up for classes in advance. They have to show their COVID-19 vaccination card only once for it to be logged. The gym still practices social distancing and takes other precautions, such as not sharing equipment.
A couple of people reached out to express interest in joining the studio, but when they learned that it was vaccine verified, they said they weren’t vaccinated.
“We say, ‘OK, come back when you are or when we’re not in this high transmission status,’” Saddoris said.
Largely, Saddoris said, the reaction from her customers has been positive. She said a very slim number, about three prospective customers, didn’t want to get vaccinated in order to use the studio. Saddoris said these people weren’t upset about the situation and understood that they didn’t meet the requirements.
“We knew there was a high vaccination rate (in Boulder County), so we didn’t expect there to be a problem, and really there hasn’t been a problem,” Saddoris said. “Most everybody knows this is a thing. Other gyms do it, too.”
Boulder County Public Health that roughly 70% of the eligible population in the county has been fully vaccinated.
A ‘lifeline’ for businesses
In the months since the program’s inception, John Tayer, president and CEO of the Boulder Chamber, said he’s received “significantly positive response from folks” involved in the program. Tayer described it as a “lifeline” for a number of businesses.
“What we know is that vaccination is the best way to prevent the spread of this disease,” Tayer said. “For our businesses we know that having the flexibility to provide a safe environment — where everybody in the facility is vaccine verified — is something that has been welcomed by customers and employees.”
Protests against vaccine passports
On Dec. 4, there were to speak out against “vaccine passports.” On that day, a group of roughly 50 protesters rallied at the Boulder County Fairgrounds to protest the Winter Marketap requirement that people 12 and older be vaccinated to enter.
The market was not part of the county’s verification program. Instead, due to a that mandates people at events of more than 500 prove their vaccination status, vaccination was required to attend the event.
Some of those protesting the Longmont event .
