William Wooddell for the Ark Valley Voice
How one Colorado county prioritized in-person learning in the face of COVID-19, while protecting its tourism-based economy.
Over the past year, Chaffee County, Colorado has managed to do something few outlying counties across this state or this country– have done: support in-person learning for its two school districts. As February fades into March, the roughly 2,246 children ages K-12 of this county, with only a few blips, have been educated in-person for the entire school year. How this county has accomplished this may be a lesson for all counties, no matter their size.
“We prioritized in-person learning; we made it our top priority,” said Chaffee County Director of Public Health Andrea Carlstrom. “After last spring, when everything shut down, we realized that getting our kids back in regular classrooms was critical. So as a county, and as a leadership roundtable, we worked together to get kids back to in-person classes in Au
How a Small Colorado County Prioritized In-Person Learning in the Face of COVID-19, While Protecting its Tourism-based Economy
Over the past year, Chaffee County, Colorado has managed to do something few outlying counties across this state or this country– have done: support in-person learning for its two school districts. As February fades into March, the roughly 2,246 children ages K -12 of this county, with only a few blips, have been educated in-person for the entire school year. How this county has accomplished this may be a lesson for all counties, no matter their size.
“We prioritized in-person learning; we made it our top priority,” said Chaffee County Director of Public Health Andrea Carlstrom. “After last spring, when everything shut down, we realized that getting our kids back in regular classrooms was critical. So as a county, and as a leadership roundtable, we worked together to get kids back to in-person classes in August and to keep them there.”
COVID-19 vaccinations were given to 187,641 Coloradans included in phases 1A and 1B as of Monday, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported. Of those, 35,798 have received the second dose.
There are currently 386 providers administering the inoculations across the state including Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center and Chaffee County Public Health.
Chaffee County Public Health director and incident command for COVID-19 Andrea Carlstrom said her department has administered 488 as of last week and it looked like another 200 were administered Monday.
She said they plan for another 200 Tuesday.
So far Chaffee County has only administered first doses and plans to begin administering second doses on Jan. 25.