Vignesh Ramachandran for CPR News
A volunteer for Sewa International checks the temperature of a man getting a COVID-19 vaccine during a May 15, 2021, vaccination event at the Hindu Temple and Cultural Center of the Rockies in Centennial.
For the 30,000 or so Indian Americans living in Colorado, the coronavirus pandemic presents an emotional whiplash right now.
About 43 percent of people in this state are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and hospitalizations continue to fall. Gov. Jared Polis has lifted the statewide mask mandate for vaccinated Coloradans. People are finding freedom they haven’t known for more than a year.
But the pandemic remains a dire emergency in India the second-most populated country in the world. Densely packed cities, strained health infrastructure and a contagious variant have devastated the public. About 27 million people have been infected in India and more than 303,000 are dead from the virus, and experts say the numbers are likely undercounted.
FBI via AP
This poster released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows Colorado homicide victim Maggie Long, left, and composite sketches of at least three men they believed were involved in her 2017 death.
The FBI is investigating the 2017 killing of 17-year-old Maggie Long as a possible hate crime, the agency said Tuesday.
Long was Asian American and lived with her family in Bailey, a small mountain town in Park County. Authorities say Long stopped at home to change clothes after school on Dec. 1, 2017, and interrupted a burglary that was already in progress.
Police received a call that unfamiliar people were inside the house causing damage. When they arrived, officers discovered the house had been set on fire and later found Long s remains inside. According to investigators, she was purposefully burned alive after a physical confrontation.
Vaccination rates are lagging for Latino and Black Coloradans, as well as for men.
These two are exactly the kinds of people the state is hoping to reach now. They’re both young he’s 22, she’s 18 and from groups Latinx and Black Coloradans whose vaccination rates lag behind their share of the population.
But at least so far on this day last week at this site, they don’t have a lot of company. Nurse Hayley DeForest said it’s been pretty quiet.
“Demand, I feel like has gone down a little bit,” De Forest said. “It s just trying to figure out who still needs vaccines, because obviously, we have not vaccinated the entire population.”