Community COVID-19 Epidemiology Infectious disease Community and Practice ColoradoSPH at CU Anschutz Environment Food Safety
The science is clear. The riskiest places for the spread of the coronavirus are indoor spaces where people are not wearing masks. Indoor restaurants are, alas, ideal locations for the spread of infections.
Press Coverage Environment Food Safety
As America begins to reopen for business, restaurants in several states have reopened for indoor dining. Others, like those in Connecticut and New Mexico, are serving outdoors only. Restaurants in New York City and Los Angeles allow no sit-down service at all.
In most places, takeout and delivery are still the most available and convenient option for those who would rather not cook during the coronavirus pandemic. But many questions remain about the risks of those methods. Here are some answers from food-safety specialists and public health experts.
If the restaurant you’re ordering from doesn’t offer delivery, takeout is still a relatively safe option. But the proximity of other customers, waiting for their food, may pose a hazard. “If you are going to go to all these steps of taking the sushi out of the packaging and washing your hands, make sure you don’t go to the ‘in’ place that has 20 people packed in the vestibule to do pickup,” said Elizabeth Carlton, an assistant professor of environmental health at the Colorado School of Public Health.
Community COVID-19 Epidemiology Infectious disease Community and Practice ColoradoSPH at CU Anschutz COE Food Safety
Restaurants around the country are bracing for the impacts of COVID-19, and consumers are wondering whether they can dine out, pick up food or order in during the coronavirus outbreak. As of now, restaurants are still offering multiple options in an effort to stay in business — including dine-in, in some cases, as well as carryout, curbside pickup and delivery.
Community Epidemiology Community and Practice ColoradoSPH at CU Anschutz Food Safety
It is sometimes difficult to find rays of hope in a public health crisis like a listeria outbreak in Colorado, until the outbreak is solved and contained through the joint efforts of local and national public health experts. In 2011, a bacterium contaminated cantaloupes grown on a farm in the southeastern part of the state and wreaked havoc, eventually killing 33 people and sickening about 150 others across the nation. It was the deadliest foodborne illness outbreak in the United States since 1924. The crisis helped to heighten awareness of the constant vigilance required to protect the food supply in the state and nation.
Colorado Public Radio
July 15, 2024
Among health experts, the jury is still out on THC, CBD and the use of marijuana in general, as those in medical and research fields weigh the benefits and risks. "This is the big challenge with cannabis: How do we facilitate the beneficial medical applications, allow for what society has determined is acceptable recreational use and also guard against the very real harms?" Gregory Tung, Ph.D., an associate professor at the Colorado School of Public Health, tells USA TODAY. "This is difficult and will likely require a mix of policy, rules, regulations and education."
USA Today
July 09, 2024
Among health experts, the jury is still out on THC, CBD and the use of marijuana in general, as those in medical and research fields weigh the benefits and risks. "This is the big challenge with cannabis: How do we facilitate the beneficial medical applications, allow for what society has determined is acceptable recreational use and also guard against the very real harms?" Gregory Tung, Ph.D., an associate professor at the Colorado School of Public Health, tells USA TODAY. "This is difficult and will likely require a mix of policy, rules, regulations and education."
Colorado Public Radio
July 02, 2024
Cases of highly pathogenic avian flu cases in Colorado dairy cows keep rising, with numbers from a federal website recording the state as having more cases than any other. Public health experts said they’re watching to see if infections spillover from cattle to humans and then human to human. “I think it's an important time for public health to be watching this really closely,” said Elizabeth Carlton, an epidemiologist at the Colorado School of Public Health. “Concern for the general public is pretty low right now,” she said.
The Denver Post
July 02, 2024
Colorado, along with much of the country, is experiencing a summer bump in COVID-19 infections, showing the virus has yet to fall into a seasonal pattern. Common respiratory bugs typically start spreading in the fall and peter out by spring. In Colorado, the worst points of the pandemic fell in the fall and winter, but COVID-19 hasn’t disappeared in the warmer months, as flu does. Four years ago, at the beginning of the pandemic, scientists expected the virus would be well on its way to settling into a seasonal pattern by now, said Talia Quandelacy, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health.
Colorado School of Public Health
