Volume 13 • Edition 07
April 1, 2020
Serving rural Adams, Morgan, and Weld Counties
“Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light” George Washington “If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed” Thomas Jefferson
Each Colorado Coronavirus Patient is Spreading the Disease to as Many as 4 People, Governor Says
The coronavirus has sickened more than 1,700 people in Colorado and killed at least 33. More than 200 people are hospitalized. by Jesse Paul@jesseapaul, The Colorado Sun — jesse@coloradosun.com CENTENNIAL — Each Coloradan infected by the new coronavirus likely has spread the disease to three or four others, Gov. Jared Polis said Friday as he warned of how bad things may get in the state unless people start taking social distancing seriously. In explaining — and defending — his stay-at-home order issued earlier this week, Polis said the goal is to reduce that transmission number as much as possible and prevent a calamity in the coming months. Still, he warned that the situation will continue to worsen regardless. But, the governor says, Coloradans can save thousands of lives by heeding the public health orders issued in recent weeks. “We can save lives quickly, and we are, by staying home,” Polis said. The coronavirus has sickened more than 1,700 people in Colorado and killed at least 33. More than 200 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. State health officials have warned there are likely thousands more who are infected with virus who either haven’t yet been tested or who don’t have symptoms. In releasing preliminary epidemiological projections developed by a team at the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus, Polis portrayed a dire situation that would have occurred had the state taken no action. Without any social distancing measures, Polis said COVID-19 could kill more than 33,000 people in the state under the worst scenario. At the peak of the outbreak, Colorado would need nearly 14,000 critical-care hospital beds. The state has only about 1,800 such beds now, Polis said. Hospitals hope to add another 1,000 critical-care beds by May and have 5,000 critical-care beds by the summer, he said. Colorado hospitals currently have only about 900 ventilators — which will be vital for saving lives as the virus sweeps through the state. But Polis said hospitals may need as many as 7,000 ventilators at the peak of the pandemic. Friday was the first time state officials have disclosed the estimated number of criticalcare hospital beds and ventilators available in the state. The information comes as they increasingly stress to the public the need to stay home as much as possible. The global transmission rate for coronavirus patients is two, meaning that Colorado has been trending above that level. Polis said that could be because of a myriad of factors. “Colorado is dry, Colorado has been cold. Those things affect it,” he said. “Coloradans, unlike in Asian countries, traditionally greet one other by shaking hands instead of bowing.” With social distancing measures, Polis said, the projected numbers of deaths and needed beds fall significantly. In the most optimistic scenario, if the state reduces social interaction by 60%, Polis said 900 critical-care beds would be needed at the peak of the outbreak and the virus would claim 400 lives in Colorado this year. Polis said he is hoping the stay-at-home order will achieve a 70 to 80% reduction in social contact, meaning deaths and resource demands will be even lower. “I, like you, would much rather end up with more masks at the end of this than to leave people without masks and infected and dying,” he said. “I’d like to have one extra ventilator than one too few. If we get this right, some might say we did too much too soon. I would much rather be the recipient of that complaint than to have a full-scale public health disaster with tens of thousands of Coloradans paying the ultimate price.” “The counting on this just continually evolves” The numbers released Friday come with some significant uncertainties — including whether researchers have accurately been able to calculate the infectiousness of the new coronavirus and whether the state can accurately predict the current number of people infected. In an interview earlier Friday, Scott Bookman, the state Health Department’s incident commander for COVID-19, said health officials are still working with private testing labs to capture data about all the tests those labs are running and are also working to update how they track hospitalizations and recoveries. “The counting on this just continually evolves as the outbreak evolves,” he said. But the new projections are in line with other estimates that have been recently published. Jacqueline Maldonado washes her hands at her home in Timnath on Wednesday,
March 25, 2020. Like many people, Maldonado has been washing her hands frequently to avoid contracting COVID-19. She and her family have been staying at home and not having company. (Valerie Mosley, Special to The Colorado Sun) Earlier this week, researchers at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation released state-by-state projections for the COVID-19 pandemic. Though it does not reflect the impact of Polis’ stay-at-home order, the model still paints an optimistic picture for Colorado — showing that the state will have enough hospital beds to meet the demand, provided the current measures remain in place for at least a few more weeks. The model projects 940 deaths in Colorado from COVID-19 by late summer. A team of data scientists calling themselves CoVidActNow has also published projections showing that Colorado will stay well within its hospital resource capacity with a stay-at-home order that goes on for three months. Cont. on Page 3, See Corona Virus
Polis Announces Statewide Stay-At-Home Order
By Colorado Public Radio Staff Colorado Gov. Jared Polis issues a stay-at-home order for the state on Wednesday, March 25, 2020. The governor of Colorado has publically stated, more than once, that he hoped to avoid any orders to require residents to hunker down. He hoped most Coloradans would voluntarily to comply with advice geared toward slowing the spread of COVID-19 across the state. Things have now changed on that front. Gov. Jared Polis issued a statewide “stay at home” order Wednesday, requiring the state’s 5.7 million residents to avoid unnecessary travel and mingling with others outside their households. Polis, who had resisted taking the dramatic step even as cities, counties and local health departments in metro Denver issued the orders, said he was persuaded that a statewide approach was necessary as the number of deaths from the coronavirus grew from 11 to 19 in a single day. “Now is the time to stay at home,” Polis said. As the coronavirus pandemic has unfolded across Colorado, Polis had initially resisted a statewide shelter-in-place or stay-at-home order for economic reasons. To be sure, the governor has made moves that have had an impact on state businesses like temporarily closing ski resorts or shutting down restaurants, bars, schools, barbershops, massage parlors and other places where Coloradans congregate. The governor had previously said, “we want to ease restriction on our economy where possible, without endangering public health.” Part of the deployed response has been specifically aimed at the economy and tapped former-Denver Mayor Federico Peña to lead an advisory council to blunt any economic downturn.
WHAT’S IN THIS ISSUE:
Page 2: Way of the World Page 2: As I See the Caucus Page 5: Tommy Holton Makes Ballot Page 6: WB I-76 Pavement Work Begins Page 8: Beginning of a Bust Page 9: How to Protect Yourself Against COVID-19 Page 11: Physical Distancing Critical Page 12: US was More Prepared than Other Countries Page 14 & 16: 6 Ways Aid Package Will Help Coloradans