Red-level or “unhealthy” air quality also is probably best avoided. “I would caution anyone against outdoor exercise when the A.Q.I. is ‘unhealthy’ or higher,” says James Crooks, clinical assistant professor at the Colorado School of Public Health and associate professor of biostatistics at National Jewish Health hospital in Denver, who has studied the health effects of Colorado wildfires.
With the pandemic, a vaccine may be our only way out, said Dr. Lauren Grossman, an assistant professor of emergency medicine and general internal medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "In this particular case, I don't see how we have much of a choice, to be honest," she said. "Look at what we're going through now with schools reopening."
It appears the rise reflects both increased testing on college campuses, and increased spread of the virus within that population, said Beth Carlton, an associate professor of environmental and occupational health at the Colorado School of Public Health. What direction the epidemic will take depends on how seriously people take precautions like mask-wearing and social distancing over the next days and weeks, she said. “The time is now” to prevent out-of-control spread, she said.
"We've seen quite a bit of variation across local communities, both in capacity to respond and capacity to implement recommendations" to keep the virus from spreading, says Glen Mays, chair of the Department of Health Systems, Management and Policy at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and an expert on public health strategy and preparedness. "There have been variations in trajectory of infections across communities."
Some graduate schools are teaching health care workers about cannabis since many say they don’t feel prepared to answer patients' questions about it. That’s why University of Colorado’s Skaggs School of Pharmacy has started a program to address this. Interview with David Kroll with Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Heather Smith, who took the course.
“There is no good reason not to do it in kids,” said Sean O’Leary, a Colorado pediatrician who sits on the American Academy of Pediatrics’ committee on infectious diseases. “It’s a matter of people not being comfortable with doing it.”
It’s an important distinction, said Sean O’Leary, professor and pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Colorado’s School of Medicine in Aurora. Since it’s early in the school year, he expects most positive cases “came in from the outside” rather than being contracted at school.
“You can’t even plan for all these things in advance because your allocation protocol might change based on all the circumstances,” said Dr. Matthew Wynia, a bioethicist who leads the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
