{"id":22594,"date":"2020-04-26T12:06:36","date_gmt":"2020-04-26T18:06:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/?p=64383"},"modified":"2020-04-26T12:06:36","modified_gmt":"2020-04-26T18:06:36","slug":"covid-diaries-colorado-a-day-in-the-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/local-news\/covid-diaries-colorado-a-day-in-the-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID Diaries Colorado: A Day in the Pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/04\/midvalleytesting-atd-041720-1-4-1024x682-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/04\/midvalleytesting-atd-041720-1-4-1024x682-1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/04\/midvalleytesting-atd-041720-1-4-1024x682-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/04\/midvalleytesting-atd-041720-1-4-1024x682-1-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><figcaption><strong>Nurse Practitioner Lisa Robbiano, left, listens to Fabiola Grajales\u2019s lungs in her car next to the MIRA COVID-19 testing bus in El Jebel on Thursday, April 16, 2020.<\/strong><br \/><em>Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>A teacher greets her students. An imam counsels his congregants. A firefighter reports for duty. New parents take their baby home from the hospital.<\/p>\n<p>These are routine moments in the lives of Coloradans. But the coronavirus has transformed the routine into the remarkable, upending how we live and interact with each other.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As a heavy spring snow blanketed the state on Thursday, April 16, journalists from news organizations across Colorado set out to chronicle a day in the life of the state\u2019s residents during this extraordinary time.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It happened that this day was the deadliest to date in the U.S. for the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 4,500 people died. Colorado\u2019s state health department reported 17 more deaths, and that the death toll had hit 374 \u2014 a figure that the state would later determine was more than 520 as more reports of COVID-19 victims surfaced.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row shn-donation shn-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/02\/shn-logo-2x-wht.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2020\/02\/shn-logo-2x-wht.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The statewide order to shut down non-essential businesses \u2014 issued a month before to the day&nbsp; \u2014 had taken a toll. In that month-long period, more than 231,000 people filed for unemployment, just short of the 285,000 unemployment claims filed in all of 2009 during the height of the great recession.<\/p>\n<p>The Colorado stories of April 16 show how much has changed in such a short amount of time. Teachers now instruct students over screens. Doctors speak to patients through masks and face shields. Newborn babies are quarantined from sick parents.<\/p>\n<p>But the journalists also chronicled how, even as Colorado stares down uncertainty, death and illness, life goes on. Birthdays are celebrated. Prayers are said.<\/p>\n<p>And in what feels like a dark hour, there are moments of hope.<\/p>\n<p><strong>7 a.m.: Venture For Success Preparatory Learning Center, Denver&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"p402_hide\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/Cathy-Scott_VentureForSucess_horizontal-1024x610.jpg\" alt class=\"wp-image-324847\"><figcaption><strong><strong>Preschool teacher Catherine Scott starts her day by cleaning classrooms before caring for children at Venture for Success Preparatory Learning Center in Denver\u2019s Montbello neighborhood.<\/strong><br \/><em>Photo courtesy of Catherine Scott<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Dressed in purple scrub pants and a coordinated print top, Catherine Scott started her work day with a spray bottle of bleach solution, wiping down door handles, tables and a laptop keyboard.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Scott is not a health care worker, but a preschool teacher \u2014 often tasked with opening the child care center where she works in Denver\u2019s Montbello neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p>When children began arriving with their parents, Scott met them at the front door, thermometer in hand. After temperature checks, parents logged their child\u2019s arrival on the laptop, and everybody washed their hands in the sink up front.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Scott, who the youngsters call \u201cMiss Cathy\u201d or \u201cMiss Cappy,\u201d had just three children in her classroom \u2014 a 2-, 3-, and 4-year-old \u2014 two of them new to the center. It was a far cry from the usual 15 she would have on a day without coronavirus.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After many child care providers closed last month, state officials made a recommendation that caught some by surprise: Stay open, with precautions, to care for the children of working parents.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Scott and her co-teacher recorded morning \u201ccircle time\u201d so the video could be posted to a private YouTube channel for children whose parents kept them home. They sang their good morning song in English and Spanish and read the book \u201cPete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>One of the biggest challenges of preschool in the coronavirus era is social distancing. Instead of the usual snuggles and hugs, Scott has switched to distance hugs, air high fives, and pats on the back. One student spontaneously jumped into her lap, then quickly realized her mistake.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI sorry,\u201d the girl said. \u201cAir high five.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2014&nbsp;<em>Ann Schimke, Chalkbeat&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>8 a.m.: COVID-19 unit, St. Joseph Hospital, Denver<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"p402_hide\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/Peter-Stubenrauch-1024x576.jpg\" alt class=\"wp-image-324880\"><figcaption><strong><strong>Dr. Peter Stubenrauch<\/strong><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Dr. Peter Stubenrauch reviewed patients\u2019 charts with his medical team during morning rounds and once again weighed the tradeoffs of long-term ventilator use.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Patients getting high levels of oxygen usually are placed on their stomach to ease pressure on the lungs. But that leaves them vulnerable to skin damage as they rest on tubes and equipment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately, it comes down to an intellectual discussion between how sick are their lungs and how worried are you about the skin,\u201d said Stubenrauch, a critical care pulmonologist with National Jewish Health, which staffs and manages the ICU. \u201cBut ultimately the skin wounds should recover (and) we need people oxygenating well enough that they\u2019ll hopefully recover from this from a lung standpoint, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nearly every patient in the unit was on a ventilator, that precious piece of equipment that can be the difference between life and death during the coronavirus crisis.<\/p>\n<p>The medical guidance on COVID-19 is evolving fast. Stubenrauch said doctors use the \u201ctried and true\u201d approaches to respiratory illness and are eyeing experimental treatments being developed. He recommended that one of his patients be added to a promising drug study. If she\u2019s accepted, she could get the drug or a placebo the research requires. He can\u2019t know.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Consultations with families are done by phone. Discussing life and death matters but not face to-face, with family members who can\u2019t even be together with their loved one, is heartbreaking. And the uncertainty about COVID-19 means preparing families for the worst.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou by no means have any interest in giving up on a patient, particularly someone who came into the intensive care unit relatively recently,\u201d Stubenrauch said. But he must \u201calso set the expectation that we\u2019re observing a lot of patients who remain on mechanical ventilation for prolonged periods of time and can quite suddenly take turns for the worse and pass away.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>By his shift\u2019s end, the news in the unit was brighter. There were no new admissions for the day.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014&nbsp;<em>Kelley Griffin, CPR News<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>9 a.m.: Office in the former Morris Elementary School, Yuma<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The president of the United States was on the line again.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, elected in 2014 as a rising star in the Republican party, joined other senators on a conference call with President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The subject: How to begin reopening America\u2019s economy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Gardner took the call from a private office in a coworking space carved from the elementary school he attended, and his parents attended before him, in this Eastern Plains town.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s close enough to his house that he can get there for lunch and, on this day, make chili for dinner.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Later in the day, Gardner spoke to Gov. Jared Polis about a letter they and Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet were sending to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell informing him of Colorado\u2019s needs. He spoke to banking leaders about nagging problems with the federal Paycheck Protection Program. He conducted a pair of TV interviews.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConstant calls,\u201d Gardner said. \u201cThere are constant calls, scheduled and unscheduled.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gardner is up for reelection in November and his seat is considered one of the most vulnerable for Republicans in 2020. His relationship with Trump is central to the campaign, and in recent months the pair have been closely aligned and supportive of each other.<\/p>\n<p>Gardner has been speaking regularly with Trump throughout the crisis. He said the president recently called late at night to pick his brain about trying to bring America back to normalcy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI talk to him about what I\u2019m hearing,\u201d Gardner said of the conversations. \u201cHe\u2019s asking, \u2018How do you think we should reopen the economy, get out of where we\u2019re at right now?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 Jesse Paul, Colorado Sun&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>9:10 a.m.: Denver City and County Building&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"p402_hide\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/TDP-L-mayorhancock041720-1024x683.jpg\" alt class=\"wp-image-324845\"><figcaption><strong><strong>Denver mayor Michael Hancock having online meeting during his lunch break at his office in Denver City and County building in Denver, Colorado on Thursday. April 16, 2020.<\/strong><br \/><em>Photo by Hyoung Chang\/The Denver Post<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Speaking in a basement room of a mostly quiet City and County building, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock told a dozen Emergency Operations Center staff gathered before him and others watching online that citizens need the safety and security only they can provide.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Hancock\u2019s days are filled with meetings. Questions and concerns pile up with each one.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>More residents are ignoring the stay-at-home order he put in place through the end of April to control the spread of the virus. How can Denver ease restrictions equitably? Will businesses hurt more if they open at half capacity? Should there be a curfew?&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Hancock\u2019s rollout of the stay-at-home order was not smooth. He initially announced that liquor stores and recreational marijuana shops would be closed before reversing course after long lines formed outside of both across the city, undermining social distancing guidance.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The city government, like public agencies across Colorado, faces a dire loss of tax revenue from virus-prompted shutdowns. Hancock, on a conference call with other metro area city leaders, heard of planned furloughs and open positions left dark, which Denver is considering, too.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn every challenge, the people are looking for that group of people who are going to stand up and fight on their behalf,\u201d Hancock said. \u201cWe\u2019re the people. We\u2019re the ones.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014&nbsp;<em>Conrad Swanson, The Denver Post&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>11:15 a.m.: Avery Parsons Elementary School, Buena Vista&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The vehicles pulled into the parking lot on the west side of the school.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Michelle Cunningham was there in a surgical mask and gloves, greeting parents and students by name and giving them thumbs-up signs and smiles in lieu of high-fives and hugs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The school counselor has been struck by the volume of families showing up for free meals. Though nearly one-third of the school district\u2019s roughly 1,100 students are eligible for government-subsidized lunches, a measure of poverty, only about 40 children a day typically take advantage, she said. Now the district is handing out 400 meals a day, she said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs counselors, we know brains work best when physiological needs are met,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cIts benefits go beyond food. I\u2019m out where I connect with families. We give them a warm smile, a \u2018How are things going?\u2019\u2026 It\u2019s a highlight of the kids\u2019 day \u2014 a daily field trip to go get your lunch! This check-in connection can make it easier for them to ask for help.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In communities across the country, school buildings closed for learning remain open for meal distribution, extending a social safety net during the crisis. That holds true in Buena Vista, a tourism-dependent community set amid the majestic Collegiate Peaks.<\/p>\n<p>With retailers, restaurants, and other small businesses closed, hundreds of families are out of work. Many just received their last paychecks. The virus caused the cancellation of a summer whitewater festival in nearby Salida, part of a $75 million rafting season for the local economy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Even so, Cunningham said she is proud of how the community has rallied.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe school board, the business owners, the community leaders, the churches, the school\u2019s lunch ladies \u2026 Everyone is stepping up in so many ways to support each other.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2014&nbsp;<em>Jan Wondra, Ark Valley Voice&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Noon: Parking lot of the El Jebel Laundromat, Eagle County&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"p402_hide\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/midvalleytesting-atd-041720-1-1024x682.jpg\" alt class=\"wp-image-324479\"><figcaption><strong><strong>Nurse Practitioner Lisa Robbiano, left, talks to Fabiola Grajales, 27, while checking her lungs and heart rate in Robbiano\u2019s car next to the MIRA COVID-19 testing bus in El Jebel on Thursday, April 16, 2020. This was Grajales\u2019s fourth COVID-19 test.<\/strong><br \/><em>Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Fabiola Grajales waited for the nose swab that would tell her whether she was finally free of the coronavirus and able to be near her family again.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In one of Colorado\u2019s COVID-19 hotspots, a coalition of Eagle County Public Health, MidValley Family Practice and the Mobile Intercultural Resource Alliance has set up this free mobile testing site. Most patients waiting at the open-sided tent were screened in advance and recommended for the tests after showing symptoms consistent with the coronavirus.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Grajales, 27, a medical assistant at a Glenwood Springs clinic, said she started feeling sick March 2 and tested positive for the virus March 6. Over the next week, her cough worsened and she experienced shortness of breath.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know when you step on dry leaves? I could hear that sound coming from my lungs.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou get really bad headaches,\u201d Grajales continued. \u201cYou feel like your eyes, they\u2019re going to pop out. I couldn\u2019t smell or taste anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Doctors at Grand View Hospital in Rifle confirmed she had pneumonia, which is common among COVID-19 patients, and treated her there but didn\u2019t admit her, she said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>She self-isolated for 10 days before symptoms disappeared. But a follow-up test showed she still had coronavirus. After more rest, Grajales felt \u201c90% better, maybe 95,\u201d she said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Waiting her turn for yet another test, Grajales said the knowledge and contacts she\u2019s gained working in health care helped her acquire tests and treatment, with some effort.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was hard for me,\u201d she said. \u201cI can\u2019t imagine how hard it would be for other people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She would need to wait a bit longer to learn whether she was finally well.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u2014&nbsp;<em>Scott Condon, The Aspen Times<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>12:20 p.m., St. Joseph Hospital emergency room, Denver<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It was another quiet day in the E.R., and the nurses gathered as they do every afternoon to discuss adjusting their schedules. This is a ripple effect of the pandemic: While parts of the health care system are stretched to the limit, emergency rooms are less busy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot gonna lie,\u201d said Dr. Ramnik Dhaliwal, who started his shift at 8. \u201cA little bit bored today.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>More people than ever before are staying home, which means fewer accidents and injuries, Dhaliwal said. He had a patient who suffered a heart attack at home and didn\u2019t go to the ER for three days. He said it is part messaging \u2014 people heeding calls to avoid the hospital unless it\u2019s a true emergency \u2014&nbsp; but also fear of contracting the virus at the hospital.<\/p>\n<div class=\"p402_hide\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/Nurses-in-St.-Joseph-ER-1024x768.jpg\" alt class=\"wp-image-324849\"><figcaption><strong><strong>Nurses at St Joseph in Denver. From right to left: Kristi Legaarden, Katie Greer, Angie Romero, Jenn Fisk, Sarah Bailey, Wyn Chen.<\/strong><br \/><em>Photo courtesy of Dr. Ramnik Dhaliwal<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Like all health care professionals, Dhaliwal wears personal protective equipment, or PPE. That means scrubs, a mask, protective glasses and a scrub hat. He understands the need, but he\u2019s bothered that it takes away from the personal nature of his interactions with patients.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHopefully this doesn\u2019t stay like this forever,\u201d he said. \u201cJust waiting for that vaccine.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The slower traffic to the E.R. compounds the financial pressures facing health-care providers. To make sure resources are adequate to battle the virus, hospitals in Colorado and nationwide have postponed elective medicine including non-emergency surgeries and procedures.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The meeting of the nursing staff ended with the decision to send some home early.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u2014&nbsp;<em>Claire Cleveland, CPR News&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>1:30 p.m.: Self-storage locker, Grand Junction&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The self-storage yard was empty when Dawna Numbers arrived.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The rain had paused, so the 48-year-old moved quickly to load her clothes in plastic bags into the back of her red Kia for the long journey on a mostly empty interstate.<\/p>\n<p>With no money for rent, Numbers was headed for her mother\u2019s house on the Front Range.<\/p>\n<p>Numbers has been out of work since March 25, when the coronavirus outbreak eliminated her night shift job at a fishing-line factory in Grand Junction. Like many Americans, she had tried fruitlessly to file for unemployment benefits. The state unemployment office had been slammed with more than 231,000 new claims in the last month, slowing services to a crawl.<\/p>\n<p>Numbers had taken the night job so she could attend physical therapy appointments during the day. She\u2019s worked in the past as a utility locator, a caregiver, and a Lyft driver. She had few options in Grand Junction. Many employers are shut down because of the virus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve never just felt so alone,\u201d she said. Maybe this crisis would bring out something better in people, she hoped. Maybe she\u2019d have better luck in Denver.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just need to do the best we can and hopefully this ends soon and somehow we can go back to some kind of normal life,\u201d she said. \u201cOr hopefully better than it was before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2014&nbsp;<em>Andrew Kenney, CPR News<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>2 p.m.: On the road from Steamboat Springs to Oak Creek&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Nolan Christopher Dreher\u2019s parents tucked him into his car seat in the back of their Toyota Highlander and drove snowy roads from Steamboat Springs to their home in Oak Creek. Nolan, cozy in a white onesie with bears on it, was two days old and on his way to meet his brothers.<\/p>\n<p>Lauren Dreher was hoping she had been careful enough, that the nurses and doctors and the woman who came in her hospital room to take out the trash were not infected with the virus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the end of the day you have to know that you did everything you could do,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m just hoping that that\u2019s enough. I was trying so hard not to touch my face. You\u2019re in labor and you brush your hair out of your face and wipe your brow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What a weird time to bring a new human into the world, she thought. Will Nolan get a vaccine to protect him against the new coronavirus? What if social norms change so much that her third son never knows a world where people shake hands?<\/p>\n<p>Dreher, who had a complicated second pregnancy, planned to give birth to Nolan in Denver with an at-risk pregnancy specialist. She changed her mind as she watched the number of COVID-19 cases climb in the city. Plus, UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center isn\u2019t nearly as busy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was just kind of eerie how quiet it was,\u201d Dreher said. Adding to that surreal feeling was the fact that \u201ceveryone you came into contact with was wearing a mask, from the security guard to the nurses and doctors.\u201d Dreher\u2019s delivery team wore N95 masks and face shields.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>She was allowed one visitor: her husband, Christopher.<\/p>\n<p>The Drehers are both furloughed. Lauren works for an orthodontist, and Christopher works at a French restaurant in Steamboat. They are trying to look at the bright side \u2014 more time with their new baby and sons Calvin, 6, and Landon, 4.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>By late afternoon all were back in their warm home with a fresh blanket of snow outside, the first time together as a family of five.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014&nbsp;<em>Jennifer Brown, Colorado Sun&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>2:30 p.m.: Home of Arapahoe County coroner Dr. Kelly Lear, Centennial<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Arapahoe County coroner Dr. Kelly Lear was at home, in jeans and a turtleneck instead of her usual scrubs, handling the administrative tasks that go along with the job since she and her fellow pathologist must stagger days in the office to maintain social distancing.<\/p>\n<p>But she was thinking about a case from early February: The death of a man in his 40s who had been seemingly healthy \u2014 with no serious pre-existing medical conditions \u2013 before falling ill with a cough a few weeks earlier. When she examined him then in the sterile autopsy room at the coroner\u2019s office, she discovered lungs ravaged by an infection.<\/p>\n<p>More than two months later, Lear was still searching for answers to why the man died.<\/p>\n<p>The forensic pathologist suspected a virus and had ordered tests to prove it. The results came in mid-March. No flu. No other viruses. Nothing pinpointing what attacked his lungs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was basically ready to sign his death certificate as severe lung disease \u2013 unknown infection,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>But emerging news of the novel coronavirus got her thinking.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe showed all the symptoms and had very severe lung disease \u2013 and it looked at autopsy like what we are hearing, you know, COVID-19 lungs look like,\u201d Lear said.<\/p>\n<p>A week later, Lear got the results of specimens she sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The man\u2019s test was negative.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014&nbsp;<em>Kevin Vaughan, 9NEWS<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>4:44 p.m.: Masjid Al-Shuhada, downtown Denver&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"p402_hide\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/Imam-1024x576.jpg\" alt class=\"wp-image-324881\"><figcaption><strong><strong>Imam Muhammad Kolila<\/strong><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>In a building that can hold up to 200 praying together, Imam Muhammad Kolila was alone as he prayed the Salat al-\u2018asr, one of Islam\u2019s five daily prayers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the things I really miss about community, before coronavirus, is that sense of belonging and that sense of human, physical interactions,\u201d he said afterward. \u201cIf we have good intentions, and we lack all the resources and we do our best to pray and make sure we pray in a group, we get the same reward as we would as if we pray in the mosque. And that\u2019s one of the things I\u2019m trying to highlight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kolila has highlighted such teachings online. Like religious leaders of all faith traditions, Kolila has been streaming services \u2014 in his case, since March 16 \u2014 to provide spiritual direction at a trying time and keep his congregation connected as best he can.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the main objectives and one of the main missions of this mosque is to provide a safe space for people to come and pray, and connect with God, but right now we cannot create that safe space\u2014physically,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is why our biggest challenge is to create the space virtually.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In addition to providing spiritual guidance digitally, Kolila has helped members in need. He regularly delivers food, supplies and money to members. The Muslim holy month of Ramadan was about to begin, providing another test for the imam and his temporarily virtual congregation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The easing of stay-at-home orders will raise additional questions for Masjid Al-Shuhada and other places of worship: What does praying together look like in the new normal of 2020?<\/p>\n<p>\u2014&nbsp;<em>Victoria Carodine, 5280&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>5 p.m.: Fire Station 52, Brighton&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"p402_hide\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/Station-52-1024x409.jpg\" alt class=\"wp-image-324851\"><figcaption><strong><strong><br \/>Brighton\u2019s Fire Rescue Station 52. (Courtesy of Capt. Colin Brunt)<\/strong><br \/><em>courtesy of Capt. Colin Brunt<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Capt. Colin Brunt climbed into Brighton Fire Rescue Tower 51, a 46-foot long fire truck with a ladder. Trailed by his colleagues in Engine 52, Brunt traveled to Bason Kramer\u2019s house to wish the 5-year-old a happy birthday. When they arrived, the crews switched on their lights and honked their horns while a firefighter stepped out to hand the boy a certificate.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This was not a typical day for the Brighton Fire Department, but it was a welcome one.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Since COVID-19 began to spread, Brunt has worked six 48-hour rotations. Each day of every rotation, he\u2019s responded to multiple COVID-19 medical calls.<\/p>\n<p>When his six-person firefighter and EMS team shows up to a house with a presumed positive case, a paramedic enters the house for reconnaissance while Brunt and his team prepare an ambulance for the patient by wrapping the inside of the cabin with thick plastic.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Before the birthday party, Brunt\u2019s unit extinguished a car fire, helped out on a call of a tractor-trailer hanging off the side of a highway and responded to a fire alarm. Brunt took a mask and worries about exposure to the coronavirus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s our worst-case scenario that goes through all of our heads, bringing something back to our family,\u201d said Brunt, who is married and has two daughters in kindergarten.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Birthday drive-bys \u2014 which more fire departments are doing to lift the spirits of isolated children \u2014 and other non-coronavirus calls were a nice change. \u201cIt\u2019s a morale booster,\u201d Brunt said.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014&nbsp;<em>Liam Adams, MetroWest newspapers&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>6:30 p.m.: home of Cat and Zach Garcia, Aurora&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Cat Garcia had been waiting for the call from the nurses at the neonatal intensive care unit, hoping to hear good news about her baby twin boys she had yet to meet.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Three weeks earlier, she lay in St. Joseph Hospital about to undergo an emergency cesarean section. Garcia wasn\u2019t due for another six weeks but her doctors felt like they had little choice: She had tested positive for COVID-19, had pneumonia, and was having difficulty breathing.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Bright lights filled the room. Doctors and nurses were covered from head to toe in PPE. The drugs began to take hold, and everything went dark.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>When Garcia woke up, she had a breathing tube in her mouth. A nurse held up her phone to show pictures of her newborn sons, Kal and Bruce. It was the closest she was going to get to them.<\/p>\n<p>Her husband, Zach, who works for the Transportation Security Administration at Denver International Airport, had begun to show symptoms of COVID-19 on March 19. Cat Garcia developed a violent cough not long after, and the couple were suddenly facing the prospect of becoming parents in frightening times.<\/p>\n<p>Released from the hospital while Kal and Bruce gained strength in the NICU, Garcia returned home. She pumped milk and unpacked baby clothes while hoping for good news.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>When the call came, the news wasn\u2019t good. The twins \u2014 both of whom have tested negative for the coronavirus \u2014 still weren\u2019t feeding well enough. Watching them on the NICU webcam would have to be good enough for a while longer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe haven\u2019t been able to hold them or see them,\u201d Garcia said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Three days later, the twins were sleeping in car seats on their way home, dressed in matching powder-blue pajamas and hooked up to oxygen to help them breathe.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014&nbsp;<em>Adilene Guajardo, Denver 7<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>11:30 p.m.: Dr. Mercedes Rincon\u2019s home office, Aurora&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"p402_hide\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/Mercedes-Rincon_home-Officejpg-1024x768.jpg\" alt class=\"wp-image-324850\"><figcaption><strong><strong><br \/>Dr. Mercedes Rincon is a professor of Immunology &amp; Microbiology at the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine. She hopes her research on the molecule frequently produced in inflammation could shed light on possible treatments for COVID-19. This is her office in the dining room of her Aurora home.&nbsp;(Photo courtesy of Dr. Mercedes Rincon)<\/strong><br \/><em>Photo courtesy of Dr. Mercedes Rincon<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>For nearly three decades, Dr. Mercedes Rincon has studied a molecule so obscure and unremarkable that even her colleagues tease her about it.<\/p>\n<p>The Spanish-born professor in the University of Colorado\u2019s Department of Immunology and Microbiology was doing postdoctoral work at Yale when she stumbled upon an article about interleukin-6, or IL-6.<\/p>\n<p>She became fascinated with the molecule commonly produced in inflammation, which is familiar to arthritis and cancer researchers searching for treatments.<\/p>\n<p>When the coronavirus began wreaking havoc on human lungs, Rincon saw a familiar microscopic face in the mix: IL-6 is consistently present in the lungs of the most severely affected patients.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Whether IL-6 is a cause or a consequence of the coronavirus, Rincon isn\u2019t sure. But she hypothesizes that drugs like tocilizumab, traditionally used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, could possibly target IL-6 and prevent it from producing more damaging inflammatory molecules.<\/p>\n<p>Early results from studies in China, as well as research in Europe and at the University of Vermont, show some promise.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can\u2019t conclude anything yet,\u201d she cautioned. \u201cWe have to be careful. We need more data.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With the clock approaching midnight, a long day coming to a close, Rincon got to work crafting a grant proposal. She wants the University of Colorado to be at the forefront of this research.<\/p>\n<p>With a little funding and a little luck, Rincon and her obscure molecule might just provide Coloradans \u2014 and the rest of the world \u2014 with a reason to hope.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014&nbsp;<em>Jay Bouchard, 5280&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This story is powered by COLab, the Colorado News Collaborative. The Aspen Times joined this historic collaboration with more than 20 other newsrooms across Colorado to better serve the public.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/news\/covid-diaries-colorado-a-day-in-the-pandemic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Sky-Hi News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nurse Practitioner Lisa Robbiano, left, listens to Fabiola Grajales\u2019s lungs in her car next to the MIRA COVID-19 testing bus in El Jebel on Thursday, April 16, 2020.Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times A teacher greets her students. An imam counsels his congregants. A firefighter reports for duty. New parents take their baby home from the hospital. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22594","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-20 15:41:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22594\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}