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July 30, 2020
DENVER, COLORADO
A publication of
VOLUME 93 | ISSUE 38
SPECIAL REPORT
Colorado’s public health officials are under attack Workers face threats, vandalism, job loss amid COVID-19 crisis BY JESSICA GIBBS | COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA AND JESSE PAUL | THE COLORADO SUN
Joni Reynolds, the head of Gunnison County’s public health department, entered kind of a routine as the coronavirus crisis descended on Colorado earlier this year: Long hours. Sleepless nights. A police escort home. A wave of threats over her efforts to keep her community safe amid the pandemic made her fear for her safety. There were also suspicious packages left outside her house and sent to her office, both of which were unsettling but weren’t dangerous. “References to Nazism. Calling me Mrs. Hitler,” Reynolds said, recounting the contents of the hate mail she received. “Calling me vile names — curse words. Threatening harm to me, my family, my home. Assuring they would remove me from my job and take ‘all my worldly possessions.’” SEE OFFICIALS, P9
But some groups warmer to virtual instruction BY MELANIE ASMAR CHALKBEAT COLORADO
Gov. Jared Polis imposed a statewide moratorium on evictions in May because a coronavirus economic slowdown was leading to high levels of unemployment. As his moratorium ended last month, Polis extended the time people affected by COVID-19 have to catch up on their rent from 10 to 30 days, a grace period that will be ending soon.
In late June and early July, Denver Public Schools asked families to make a choice: Would they want their children to stay home this fall and learn online, or would they want to send their children in person to school buildings, with safety protocols to protect against the coronavirus? The district got answers for about half of its 92,000 students. For 75% of students whose families responded, the preference was the in-person option, which has since been delayed by at least several weeks. But survey results obtained by Chalkbeat through an open records request reveal differences by race. While 88% of white students chose the in-person option, only 65% of African American students and 67% of Hispanic students did — a trend also seen nationally. A similar percentage of Asian students, 69%, chose the inperson option. The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected communities of color nationwide. Here in Colorado, the rate of infection is higher among Black and Hispanic Coloradans than it is among white Coloradans, state data show. The death rate is higher, too.
SEE HOMELESS, P7
SEE SURVEY, P16
Health workers collect patient information from people waiting to be tested for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, outside the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s lab in Denver’s Lowry neighborhood on March 11. PHOTO BY JOHN INGOLD/THE COLORADO SUN
Service providers: More homeless solutions needed They’re seeing more unhoused people because of economy BY DONNA BRYSON DENVERITE
Denver might need another shelter. Kristen Baluyot, the Salvation
Survey: In-person learning favored
Army’s Denver metro social services director, said her organization has told city officials and other service providers that it is open to running a new shelter. The discussion is part of a broader conversation about whether homelessness, already apparently increasing amid the pandemic, is about to get much worse. “That is definitely a concern, especially if we’re seeing evictions as the moratorium ends,” Baluyot said.
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 8 | LIFE: PAGE 10
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GET IN THE SUMMER SWING
The metro area boasts a host of eclectic, less-familiar parks to explore P10