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March 25, 2021
ELBERT COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
ElbertCountyNews.net
VOLUME 126 | ISSUE 8
County moves to blue on COVID dial Officials hope for normal capacity at events by summer BY TABATHA STEWART SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
trend in employment in building construction,” said Leanne Cook, who serves at the post-secondary options and internships liaison for the school district. Students had the opportunity to interview Tim Craft, developer of Independence, and Jim Yates, the Independence project manager, and learn more about how to become a developer and what a career in development looks like, and
Elbert County was moved to level blue — cautious — on the COVID dial March 9, which will allow for increased capacity in restaurants, indoor gatherings and fitness centers. The number of positive cases in the county has been dropping, with the county’s two-week average positivity rate being at 6.12% as of March 17. That’s a huge decline from the county’s highest rate of 14.75 in November. “Amazingly, we are one year into the pandemic,” said Elbert County Board of Health Director Dwayne Smith. “In many ways it’s hard to comprehend, but we have experienced a lot of challenges, and will continue to experience challenges for the next couple of months, but we are looking forward to a summer of activities that hopefully will be normal.” Since the beginning of the pandemic, Elbert County has seen 1,228 positive cases of COVID-19, with 79 hospitalizations and 12 deaths. Approximately 7,500 people in the county have been tested.
SEE CAREERS, P2
SEE BLUE, P6
Independence residents Robert and Jamie Liptak spoke with students from Elizabeth High School about purchasing a new COURTESY OF CRAFT COMPANIES home in a growing development.
Elizabeth students get taste of life in trades Trip to Independence community shows possible career paths BY TABATHA STEWART SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA
Students from Elizabeth High School left the classroom behind March 10 and traveled to the Independence community, where they
learned about the many career opportunities in trade industries such as new construction, water management, storm drain management and road construction. The EZTV crew from Elizabeth High filmed the outing and created a video that will be used to educate students about the various careers. “We came up with the idea of making career videos, and doing a video on building construction made sense because Elbert County is right on the start of a major
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 10 | CALENDAR: PAGE 13 | SPORTS: PAGE 12
GIRLS STATE SWIMMING TITLES
Littleton swimmers make splash with first title P12