The nightly howl is a primal affirmation that provides a moment’s bright spot each evening by declaring, collectively: We shall prevail, said Dr. Scott Cypers, director of Stress and Anxiety programs at the Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Depression Center at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. It’s a way to take back some of the control that the pandemic-forced social isolation has forced everyone to give up

“I still believe that masks are primarily for health care workers and for those who are sick to help prevent spreading droplets to others,” said Dr. Adit Ginde, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “However, I do believe that for limited circumstances when individuals must be in close quarters with others, a correctly positioned mask or other face cover for a short duration could be helpful.”

At the University of Colorado School of Medicine, student organizers used a GroupMe texting app, Facebook and email to mobilize not only classmates but also area nursing, physical therapy and pharmacy students. Now more than 300 student volunteers are working at nine locations in the area, including hospitals, elder outreach programs and the local Salvation Army.

“It would be irresponsible at this point not to get ready to make tragic decisions about who lives and who dies,” said Dr. Matthew Wynia, director of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado.

In Colorado, Dr. Matthew Wynia, a bioethicist and infectious disease doctor, is working on a plan that would also assign a score. In his rubric, the first considerations are odds of survival and expected length of treatment. ...  “One thing everyone agrees on is that the most morally defensible way to decide would be to ask the patients,” Dr. Wynia said.

“We wouldn’t go nearly as close as China in terms of making those kinds of impositions on civil liberties,” said Glen Mays, professor of health policy at the Colorado School of Public Health. “As you get further down that list, the calculus the governor or state health official will have to make is, do the risks we face justify the economic and personal-freedom costs of adopting measures like canceling large events, closing schools or banning movement,” Mr. Mays said.

“If you don’t have adequate vitamin D circulating, you are less effective at producing these proteins and more susceptible to infection,” says Dr. Adit Ginde, professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and the study’s lead author. “These proteins are particularly active in the respiratory tract.”

The results are preliminary, noted Robin Gabriels, program director for neuropsychiatric special care at Children’s Hospital Colorado and a psychiatry professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. “I look forward to the researchers conducting a randomized clinical trial to more definitively determine if equine-assisted activities combined with their curriculum effectively improves motor skills compared to therapeutic riding by itself,” said Gabriels.