Christie Aschwanden/KHN Requirements for Mesa County’s 5-star program include mask enforcement for employees and customers, regular cleaning schedules, hand sanitizing stations and spacing of furniture. On a sunny Saturday in January, Ruth Hatfield was sitting with a friend’s dog on a sidewalk bench in downtown Grand Junction. Back home in Snowmass Village, 120 miles away through winding Rocky Mountain roadways, local officials had just shut down indoor restaurant dining as COVID-19 cases reached some of the highest levels in Colorado. Here in Grand Junction, though, restaurants were open, and Hatfield had sought out those with the local health department’s “5-star certifications,” a designation meant to reassure people it is safe to patronize businesses during the pandemic.