CU Anschutz In The News

Dr. Maya Haasz, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, said that for the past few years, every child over age 10 who comes to the emergency room at Children’s Hospital Colorado, where she is an attending physician, is screened for suicide risk, using a questionnaire. “Somewhere between 5 and 10 percent of our patients presenting for nonmental health concerns screen positive,” she said — and this was true before the pandemic. 

Dr. Sean O’Leary, professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, said the growing number of U.S. deaths could be another reason to think about COVID-19 and children. “We do know for sure that schoolchildren are major drivers of influenza epidemics in the community and, though that is not as much the case with COVID, it doesn’t mean they can’t spread it,” he said.

As school districts embark on the school year with the pandemic still posing a threat, Dr. Glen Mays, chairman of the Department of Health Systems, Management and Policy in the Colorado School of Public Health, is a big proponent of schools exploring every possibility to maximize outdoor instruction. Airborne transmission is “much less likely to take place in an outdoor setting just because the larger volume of air outside,” Mays said.

Overall, the indicators are “encouraging,” said Beth Carlton, an associate professor of environmental and occupational health at the Colorado School of Public Health. The concern is that people will relax their precautions over Labor Day weekend, just as schools and universities are bringing their students back, she said. Experts still don’t know what caused an increase in cases and hospitalizations in July, but one theory is that the virus spread at Independence Day celebrations.

At the University of Colorado, Thomas Campbell said his medical practice has used its electronic medical records to identify and reach out to everyone at high risk for COVID-19. "I've already had over 100 people email me personally and said 'sign me up,'" said Campbell, also an infectious disease physician at UCHealth.

We saw something like that happen as states and cities required people to stay home or wear masks, and as people reacted to a resurgence in cases by avoiding high-risk settings, said Beth Carlton, an associate professor of environmental and occupational health at the Colorado School of Public Health. … Katie Colborn, research director for surgical outcomes and applied research on CU’s Anschutz Medical Campus, had previously worked on forecasting malaria outbreaks in countries where the disease is common.

“Well, what I would really like to study is the antibody response and the maturity of the antibody response,” said Dr. Kim Jordan, an immunologist at the University of Colorado Anschutz campus in Denver who is helping to find answers about the virus’ unique behavior. “But why is that inflammation not being resolved? Why is the virus infection continuing? And why are some people I’ve heard 30 days out still testing positive for COVID and still have the virus? Like what is different about this virus that our immune system can’t resolve it?” she asked.

"For some people, it's hard for them to discern what is the right information and what is not," said Dr. May Chu, a clinical professor in the epidemiology department at the Colorado School of Public Health. "And there's no leadership in coordinating the message either, so different messages come out."