CU Anschutz In The News

Dr. Lilia Cervantes, an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, said she wasn’t surprised by the new numbers. “The Latino community makes up the majority of the essential workforce,” said Cervantes, who is a member of the Colorado Vaccine Equity Taskforce. “During COVID, they've been the least protected. They've not been able to avoid public transportation. They've had to continue working sometimes even while ill and are the least likely to have healthcare coverage.”

Other public health experts worry Colorado and the U.S. may be flying blind. Many governments dropped non-pharmaceutical interventions like masking and contact tracing, while not beefing up surveillance enough to give warning of a potential coming surge, said May Chu, an epidemiologist and clinical professor, also at the Colorado School of Public Health.

“Infections may be increasing modestly, but severe disease is very low,” said Elizabeth Carlton, an associate professor for the school at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus and member of the Colorado COVID-19 Modeling Team that provides epidemiological modeling for the state. “My guesses as to what is driving this: immunity to severe disease due to vaccination and the sheer number of infections we had in Colorado” from December through February because of the omicron wave.

Relaxed COVID-19 protocols in Colorado and the rest of the country are, of course, subject to change. And adaptability is a must, according to Dr. Lee Newman, who heads the Center for Health, Work and Environment at the Colorado School of Public Health at CU Anschutz.

Dr. Samuel Dominguez is a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Children’s Hospital Colorado and an associate professor at University of Colorado School of Medicine. He talked to CPR about the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children.

“She's such a pioneer and a beacon for truth and she truly had a love for community,” said Hunt, an associate dean for equity, diversity and inclusion at the Colorado School of Public health at the University of Colorado Anschutz medical campus.

“It’s hard to answer that question definitively, I think,” said Glen Mays, the chair and a professor in the Department of Health Systems, Management & Policy in the Colorado School of Public Health at CU Anschutz. He said the drawings were novel and helped promote awareness and excitement about the vaccinations but they came after many early adopters already had gotten their shots. So it’s “really difficult to know exactly what, if any, boost it’s had.” It seems likely that the drawings, at the very least, arrested, then slowed, a significant slide in consumer interest in getting the vaccine.

Dr. Jessica Hawks, a clinical and adolescent psychologist and an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, said there isn’t much research on the effectiveness of court-ordered anger management classes, partly because there isn’t one consistent way to teach the classes. The research that does exist suggests the best outcomes involve a “cognitive behavioral” approach and involves parents in the treatment.