Headlines August 10, 2021
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New Masking Guidance for Boulder County Schools
Boulder County Public Health has issued new guidance for the use of face coverings in Pre-K through 12 schools. The recommendations – which take effect today – urge all students and staff to wear face masks regardless of vaccination status. In an official statement, they said that schools should implement universal masking for the upcoming school year. No students under the age of 12 are old enough to be eligible for the vaccine. The new masking guidance comes just ahead of tonight’s Boulder Valley School District board meeting.
CDC Report on Delta Variant in Mesa County
The CDC released a report last week on this summers’ outbreak of the Delta Variant in Mesa County. Between April and June, nearly 1 in every 100 people living in Mesa County contracted the CoronaVirus with the highly contagious Delta variant making up a significant portion of infections. Over the first few months, Mesa County COVID infections contributed more than 50 percent of Colorado’s Delta Variant cases despite residents only making up 3 percent of the state’s total population.
Vaccine Mandate at UCHealth Draws Protest
Health care workers gathered outside UCHealth’s Anschutz campus Monday to protest vaccine mandates. Many large health-care groups around the state have begun requiring the shot. Denver’s channel 7 reports around 90% of UCHealth workers are already vaccinated, the remaining ten percent have until October first to comply or face sanctions or loss of employment.
Protestors of the mandate say they should have the choice of whether or not to accept a vaccine that hasn’t yet received full approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
Vaccine Mandates for healthcare workers are not new. In recent years, officials have fired employees for not fulfilling mandatory vaccination guidelines for other diseases like mumps and measles although, according to reports, the numbers are less than 10.
Funding Available Through Higher Education Emergency Relief
The Front Range Community College is urging its students to register for classes and fill out financial aid forms as soon as possible. To those who qualify, the Federal Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund is giving out 8 million dollars in scholarship money to help counter financial burdens brought on by the pandemic. Without any special applications, students will receive anywhere from 250 to 1000 dollars based on a need AND a first-come-first-serve basis. Those who are selected should expect to see money in their account by the end of the month or mid-September.
Civilian Climate Corps Proposals Advances in Congress
Congressman Joe Neguse, Chair of the U.S. House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, announced that his proposal to establish a 21st Century Climate Conservation Corps, the CCCC, was included in the $3.5 trillion budget resolution made public yesterday by Senate Democrats.
Neguse’s project is to receive $25.6 billion for community resilience projects, along with $89.1 billion in Department of Agriculture funding, which includes the U.S. Forest Service and project funding for wildfire risk mitigation.
Congressman Neguse’s 21st Century Conservation Corps Act would address multiple challenges like unemployment rates caused by COVID-19, western wildfires, restoring lands and communities and addressing climate change.
The plan borrows ideas from FDR’s New Deal program which created the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s. Locally, FDR’s CCC built Red Rocks, roads, and trails and campgrounds in Rocky Mountain National Park. Neguse’s proposed CCCC would put hundreds of thousands of Americans back to work to train a new generation of workers to support forest management, wildland fire suppression and wildfire recovery.
Financially, it would provide $6 billion for the U.S. Forest Service, $6 billion for the National Park Service, and $2 billion for the Bureau of Land Management maintenance. It also provides $2 billion to FEMA to improve the recovery of communities impacted by wildfire.
Colorado Man Pleads Guilty to Participation in Capitol Riot
A Colorado man involved in the January 6 capital riot pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor federal crime Monday. Glen Wes Lee Croy admitted to parading, demonstrating or picketing inside the Capitol, according to the documents. The charge carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a fine of up to $5,000. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 15.
