Thomas Campbell [professor of medicine at CU School of Medicine], who is overseeing the trial site at UCHealth in Colorado, said he has received more than 2,000 emails and hundreds of calls from would-be volunteers.
“It was a very efficient way to vaccinate patients,” said Richard Zane, the chief innovation officer of UCHealth [and CU School of Medicine faculty]. “We received tremendous feedback from our patients about how smoothly it went and how happy they were with the experience.”
“Once you get inside (the gym), you’re really sharing that same airspace. Because you’re doing that, the risk is just going to go up,” Dr. Lisa Miller, a professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health. “Wearing a mask lessens risk.”
Colorado is currently in the process of vaccinating residents, decreasing the number of people at risk of being hospitalized or dying from the virus, said Dr. Beth Carlton, a member of the COVID-19 modeling team for the state. “This is really about saving lives right now,” Carlton said, adding that if people do not follow safety guidelines, new strains of the virus could gain ground and increase spread.
“Some of the root causes stem from the history of this country and health care. Just like anything, when you build something and add other pieces in afterwards, they never fit just right,” said Dr. Jacqueline Ward-Gaines. Ward-Gaines is the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Educational Lead at the University of Colorado Department of Emergency Medicine. She says the health disparities between Black and White Americans are rooted in centuries of racism.
Elizabeth Carlton, an associate professor at the Colorado School of Public Health, agreed that the high rate of testing could be part of the reason why Pitkin County is posting higher infection rates than its neighbors. “In that region, Pitkin is doing far more testing than anyone else,” she said. “That’s good news, to be absolutely clear. The more you look for the virus, the more likely you are to find it. If you can find the virus, you’re much better equipped to try and contain it.”
“We cannot leave any part of society behind,” Richard Zane, M.D., professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, told NBC News in a phone call. Zane is helping stand up vaccination rollouts across the state, from clinics and drive-throughs to mass vaccination centers and “pop-up” clinics. His own facility is in talks with Lyft about the possibility of providing rides to some patients.
“You’re asking the question I think scientists are going to spend the next decade trying to unpack,” 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.
