. >> reporter: in the darkest days of the pandemic, daniel ramirez had to furlough 250 employees fromut now, more than 300 employees are back on the payroll and business is booming at a family-owned restaurant chain, his father started 20 years ago. >> had to learn how to understand, adapt to it. with f if we didn't learn how to adapt to it, i think we would have been stuck in 2020. >> reporter: ramirez and others credit this happening in colorado because of democratic governor jared polis, who has distanced himself from some democratic leaders across the country. governor polis is leaving mask mandate orders up to local jurisdictions, and in a statement to cnn, a spokesperson says the governor is focused on fixing the economic disruptions caused by the pandemic, adding hospital capacity and covid testing. the governor, also, says promoting the covid-19 vaccine is key, and he says those who don't get vaccinated are responsible for what happens. >> everybody's had the chance to get vaccinated. and at this point, i think it's almost like it may be a deliberate decision not to get vaccin

in the darkest days of the pandemic, daniel ramirez had to furlough 250 employees from his four mexican more than 300 employees are back on the payroll, and business is booming at a family-owned restaurant chain his father started 20 years ago. >> we had to learn how to understand and adapt to it. if we never learn how to adapt to it, i honestly think we still would have been stuck in 2020. >> thank you, everybody, for your work. >> reporter: ramirez and others credit this happening in colorado because of democratic governor jared polis, who has distanced himself from some democratic leaders across the country. governor polis is leaving mask mandates up to local jurisdictions. in a statement to cnn, a spokesperson said the governor is focused on fixing the economic dus rupgs disruptions the pandemic. the governor says promoting the covid-19 vaccine is key. he says those who don't get vaccinated are responsible for what happens. >> everybody has had the chance to get vaccinated, and at this point, i think it is almost like they made a deliberate decision not to get vaccinated. >> reporte