It is April 1, and rents and many mortgages are due and people across this country are unemployed, underemployed and losing their businesses due to a government-mandated stay-at-home order. But this order has been given without any guarantee that we will all have and keep our shelter. The science is clear — these are the […]
pandemic
Posted inOpinion, Write On, Colorado
As a recently burnt-out nurse searching for a way forward, I embrace routine in these strange times
Routine. Our house of four maintains a routine, broken predominantly only by the nightly living room updates of a pandemic world. Even then, that itself is a part of the routine. Two of the housemates are medical students. They remain studying for a Step One exam that is constantly at risk of cancellation. The start […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Diana Bray: Coronavirus is just a symptom of a sick planet
It seems that feeling anxious, distressed and fearful is our collective new normal. I have been feeling some degree of this distress for several years. And I know I am not alone. The level of anxiety and depression and danger that many are feeling right now about the coronavirus pandemic are what some have been […]
Posted inOpinion, Write On, Colorado
It was a wonderful cruise. But getting home amid a pandemic proved a lengthy ordeal
We may have been in a cage, but it was a gilded cage. After eight fantastic days exploring Vietnam and Cambodia on the Mekong River, my wife and I, and 10 other passengers on our small river cruise ship, were being told we could not disembark. We had apparently shared a hotel in Ho Chi […]
Posted inCOVID, Health, News, Politics and Government
Months ago, Colorado trained to prepare for a pandemic. But not one like the coronavirus.
In August, months before the first case of the new coronavirus was documented, some of Colorado’s top health officials gathered in a room at the state Department of Public Health and Environment to train for a pandemic. The hypothetical scenario: A highly infectious and lethal new virus had jumped from animals to humans in China […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Let’s strengthen families and school communities during this crisis
As a high school counselor, mom, educator and president of the Colorado Education Association, representing 39,000 educators across the state, we know this is an unprecedented time with school closures. In this time of uncertainty, the members of CEA remain more committed than ever to our core mission: Educators across Colorado are taking the lead, […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Nicolais: As the coronavirus spreads, growing divisions in society only makes things worse
In retrospect, it seems a bit inevitable. On the same day we discovered that 3.3 million Americans filed for unemployment last week, our country passed Italy and China to become the world’s leader in diagnosed coronavirus infections. Two numbers describing two realities. The gulf between them delineating the widening gap in perspective for many people […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Stay-at-home is the best chance to save our economy
In eight days, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Colorado has increased tenfold. Many thousands of cases remain undiagnosed. The growing deadly risk to frontline workers in our health care system and service economy is beyond denial. The death toll continues to climb and the U.S. is now the global epicenter of the virus. […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Long after the coronavirus, domestic violence victims will need help
COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders have focused attention on a fact that domestic violence victims and those who work with them have long understood: Dependence on abusers is harmful and sometimes deadly. As researchers who study domestic violence, we think recent reporting on the intersection of social distancing and domestic violence risk is incredibly important, but reflects […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: The crisis facing local news in these coronavirus times is a crisis of democracy
As over 5 million Coloradans weather the COVID-19 crisis at home through mid-April, the state’s dedicated local journalists are among the short list acknowledged as essential workers in Gov. Jared Polis’ stay-in-place executive order. Each day we open our emails, scroll our social feeds, and receive potentially life-saving stories from the front lines of the […]