State and city leaders are trying to slow the spread of COVID without shutting down all businesses by instituting curfews.  Mayor Nick Gradisar followed many others by setting in motion a curfew for Pueblo starting on Oct. 29 until Nov. 13 from the hours of 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Since the curfew was set in place, the Pueblo Police issued 11 citations. The cases of this virus have continued to rise since the curfew was put in place. On Oct. 29 the number of cases was 2,051, since then the number of cases has risen significantly to 4,545. 

The curfew is set at 10 p.m. Some businesses have started closing at 10 p.m. due to the curfew, but some are keeping their normal hours. Some fast food chains have their normal hours and it is affecting their business because barely anyone is going to get food due to the curfew. In the Pueblo Chieftain Heather Graham, who owns two Graham’s Grills, says, “Even if they just drop our capacity to 25% it will be a death sentence to so many places. For instance, at Ruby’s our capacity is 42, so 25% gives us nine patrons. We can’t pay the bills with nine people. It’s not like our rents are reduced. This hit in March and we’re not getting government assistance. We can’t do this again.” With this being said if people in Colorado do not stay within the restrictions of the curfew we are going to have to go on lockdown again, with more restrictions and it will be more strict. For example, we will not be able to just go out and only leave for essential purposes, such as going to the stores and there would still be a limit on that.