PUEBLO – The COVID-19 Education and Compliance Technician Program announced 61 businesses made the COVID-19 Safety All-Stars. The program also provided new data where it sees the most violations. 

“This program shows the majority of businesses are taking the safety of their customers and staff seriously,” said Mayor Nick Gradisar. “Pueblo is taking action to make sure our economy can remain vibrant. But we can only do that if customers have confidence that eating out and shopping are safe activities.”

Since August 14, when the program started, 61 businesses had no violations after follow-up inspections. 

“These 61 businesses are leading Pueblo’s response to COVID-19 and give their customers comfort they are taking this pandemic seriously.  For the next report, I would like to see double the businesses make this list,” said Mayor Gradisar.

The program also provided its first comprehensive list of violations. Mask violations were the most common type of infraction with 105. Additionally, 69 businesses failed to properly screen employees for COVID-19. 

“This is a massive undertaking and the majority of Pueblo’s businesses are doing a great job working with us,” said Karen Willson, program director.

The technicians monitor if businesses follow COVID-19 guidelines such as screening employees, wearing masks, keeping contact tracing logs, limiting social gatherings, and other requirements.

“Overall, I’m happy to see so many businesses taking the pandemic seriously and wanting to keep staff and customers safe,” said Willson. “With a little education, most businesses implement safety changes after a technician visits them.”

The COVID-19 Education and Compliance program was launched on August 14, and since then, it has performed over 500 site visits to businesses. 

Technicians educate businesses on the proper COVID-19 safety measures to help them stay compliant and correct violations.

The team consists of 10 technicians and 1 data entry person. Karen Willson of Pueblo Code Enforcement manages the COVID-19 Education and Compliance Technician Program.

Violations are referred to the Pueblo County Department of Health and Environment for legal action.