Today, Governor Polis was joined by two frontline healthcare workers from Garfield County as he provided an update on Colorado’s response to COVID-19.
Garfield County avoided a large wave in the Spring, but is currently seeing cases and transmission rates skyrocket much like the rest of our state.
Dr. Alan-Michael Vargas, Chair of Board of Directors for Colorado Rural Health Center and Physician at the Grand River Health Clinic shared his perspective as a practicing physician:
“Living and practicing medicine in rural Colorado, it would have been easy to imagine COVID as something that only plagues urban areas, but even though our neighbors can be separated by acres of land, we’re seeing it spread through our communities,” said Dr. Vargas. “I’ve spent hours of the last weeks wearing a rubber gown in our respiratory clinic. What works to prevent this is minimizing our individual risk through mask wearing and social distancing.”
Marisa Duran, Clinic Manager at Grand River Health Clinic shared her experiences as both a health care worker on the front lines of this virus, and as a COVID survivor:
“It’s very hard to say where I got COVID - the grocery store, work, a friend. My symptoms hit me really quickly, without warning. I never thought that I had COVID or that my test results would come back positive,” said Ms. Duran. “I’m a pretty healthy woman and it really took the best of me through the whole process.”
It’s critical that we remember that this virus isn’t just something you hear about on the news or read about in the paper.
Some are fortunate, like Marisa, to have fully recovered. Others are still living with the effects of the virus months after having tested negative. And some pay the ultimate price, losing their lives to this insidious virus.
As we head into the holidays, the Governor strongly urges Coloradans to avoid personal gatherings at all costs, wear a mask, and physically distance. Let’s do these three things to protect our friends, our family members, and our front line workers who are working every day to keep our communities safe.
