Fauci, Colorado Gov. Polis warn of coronavirus surge
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis joined the nation’s top infectious disease expert Tuesday and urged people to wear masks and socially distance to help prevent stay-at-home orders and overwhelmed hospitals as cases of the coronavirus surge during the holidays.
By News Channel NebraskaDENVER (AP) — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis joined the nation’s top infectious disease expert Tuesday and urged people to wear masks and socially distance to help prevent stay-at-home orders and overwhelmed hospitals as cases of the coronavirus surge during the holidays.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House’s coronavirus task force, warned during a virtual news conference that Colorado is not alone in seeing a spike in cases and pleaded with people not to travel or gather in large groups.
“If you look across the United States, we are really in a public health crisis right now because we are having a surge the likes of which is worse than the surges that we all saw in the late winter, early spring,” Fauci said.
He added that “we are likely going to see a surge upon a surge” of cases, based on the number of people who traveled and gathered for Thanksgiving and on those who are expected to shop and attend holiday parties before celebrating Christmas and New Year's in large groups.
Colorado has been hit with a substantial spike in COVID-19 cases, with one in 41 residents believed to be contagious. Nearly 233,000 people in the state have tested positive, and more than 2,600 have died from the virus since it started its rapid spread in the spring, according to state health officials.
Vaccines are “literally on the threshold” for vulnerable populations, and the general population could start getting inoculated as early as April, Fauci said.
“Once we get there, we can crush this outbreak just the way we did with smallpox, with polio and with measles," he said. "So we can do it. We just need to hang together a bit longer.”
Officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were meeting Tuesday with the institute's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to determine what groups will get the vaccine first.
“They’re literally discussing it now, right now,” Fauci said.
Polis, who announced Saturday night that he and his partner, Marlon Reis, had contracted the coronavirus, encouraged residents with symptoms to get tested and echoed Fauci in pointing out that hope is on the horizon.
“We’re tired of not seeing our friends and loved ones. We’re tired of not having the quality of life we know we want to have. But you know what? We’re almost there,” Polis said.
The governor started quarantining Wednesday after he said he was exposed to the virus. He tested negative right after learning of his exposure, but his results came back positive after he was later retested.
“I’m certainly not out of the woods, nor is Marlon. As we know, this can certainly take a different turn after several days, but so far I feel very good,” said the governor, who described his symptoms as “very mild."
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some — especially older adults and people with existing health problems — it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.
Colorado passes virus aid; GOP fails to trim Polis authority
DENVER (AP) — Colorado's Democrat-led Legislature plowed ahead Tuesday on special session legislation to provide limited state relief to businesses, students and others affected by the coronavirus pandemic, overcoming Republican objections to the scope of the aid and GOP attempts to limit the Democratic governor's ability to decree public health orders.
The Senate unanimously passed bills to direct $5 million to help residents to pay utility bills; $50 million to assist landlords and tenants; and $100 million to the governor's office for use in the public health emergency. The bills were immediately taken up by the House.
In turn, the House passed legislation offering temporary state sales tax breaks to small businesses; allocating $45 million to sustain or open an estimated 2,600 child care centers; appropriate $50 million to help renters and landlords; and sending $3 million to assist food pantries and food banks.
Democratic Gov. Jared Polis — who has tested positive for COVID-19 and is isolating — called the special session, saying the state could no longer wait for Congress to deliver a new federal relief package. Lawmakers convened on Monday and hope to wrap up business on Wednesday.
A top priority is sustaining Colorado's struggling small businesses, which have been hit by temporary closures, curfews and bans on indoor dining or severe limits on indoor capacity during the course of the pandemic. The Senate sent a $37 million small business relief bill to the House on Tuesday, but only after several Republicans objected to a clause that firms in municipalities both severely affected by the pandemic and that are abiding by state health orders are eligible for aid.
Others objected to taking nearly $2 million from the sum for state and local administrative costs in dispensing the aid.
Legislative fiscal analysts estimate that small firms in only 27 of Colorado’s 64 counties currently are eligible — or roughly 20,000 businesses. Northern Colorado’s Weld County, for one, has publicly stated it will not enforce state health restrictions designed to stem the virus’ spread.
Republican Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, the lone “no” vote on the bill, said it unfairly penalizes private businesses, regardless of local government compliance with health orders. GOP Sen. Paul Lundeen said the bill’s proposed payments of up to $3,500 for firms that earned less than $500,000 in 2019 “is kind of like tipping money.”
Republican Sen. Bob Gardner took issue with the bill's administrative costs. “In a financial transaction, that would be regarded as highway robbery,” he said.
Under the bill, firms would have to apply to their local county or city government, which in turn will apply to the state. Payments of up to $7,000 would be allocated in February.
Democrats this week have voted down several Republican message bills that sought to limit Polis' emergency powers to issue health and other orders during the pandemic. Polis has repeatedly extended a state of emergency allowing him to issue those orders — long a sore point with Republicans.
One bill, introduced by Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg would set a 60-day limit for a state of disaster emergency declared by the governor and would require the legislature's approval to extend the order. Another bill from Gardner would subject emergency public health orders to undergo a rule-making process with public hearings in order to extend state-issued health measures past the current 120-day emergency rule limit.
In August, Colorado's Supreme Court declined to hear a lawsuit alleging that Polis violated the state Constitution's separation-of-powers provisions and stripped the Legislature of its lawmaking role by declaring a public emergency. The lawsuit was filed by Rep. Patrick Neville, then the House minority leader, and conservative activist Michelle Malkin.
Neville and Malkin also sought to overturn a statewide mask-wearing mandate.
The pandemic has killed more than 2,500 people in Colorado and infected more than 228,000, straining the state’s emergency hospital capacity.
The coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. But for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death.
Nieberg is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.