Month In Review | September 2021 - Yellow Scene Magazine

Recent fire in Boulder near NIST campus, via Boulder Fire Rescue.

• Boulder County COVID transmission remains high. BOCO implemented an indoor mask mandate three weeks ago but local COVID-19 transmission still remains high. Boulder County Public Health said it would stop requiring masks indoors if it saw 21 consecutive days of low or moderate transmission. According to the CDC, transmission has been high the entire month, meaning we have a long way to go as individuals to end the pandemic locally. • Boulder County businesses can apply for a program that will offer customers and staff a chance to go mask-less in indoor public spaces, despite the recently reinstated mask mandate. This is based on 95 percent vaccination rates. It will be up to businesses to verify a person’s vaccination status. Sounds responsible. • Body found in Boulder during search for missing Denver man. The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said an abandoned vehicle was found in Pierson Park off Forest Road 119 in unincorporated Boulder County, and that the vehicle belonged to a Denver man who had been reported missing by concerned family members around Labor Day, according to the Daily Camera. No signs of foul play were found. • Firefighters extinguished a small wildland fire in Boulder County near the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) campus. The fire burned about 2.5 acres, and the cause was unknown, according to the sheriff’s office. • A 19 yo CU Boulder student was rescued from a mine shaft. Responding agencies were called to Switzerland Trail after the man reportedly fell 25 feet, but was uninjured. Please be safe around old mines. • About 70 people protested outside of Boulder County Board of Health during its virtual meeting in defiance of mask mandates and the vaccine, with signs displaying such gems as “medical freedom” and “it’s a hoax.” The vocal minority continues to skirt facts and jeopardize community safety, as well as prolong the pandemic and mask mandates they despise. • Rents are past due and landlords are ready to evict. Many programs exist to support renters in staying homed, but access and info aren’t getting to people as quickly as it should be. An estimated 4,284 (8.9 percent) of Boulder County rental households were behind in paying rents as of early August, according to a new county-by-county analysis by Surgo Ventures. • Colorado prepped to welcome refugees from Afghanistan, following a 20-year illegal occupation and war. We simultaneously beat and whipped Haitian refugees and illegally deported them from our southern border, following generations of poverty-inducing US policy.

Small Talk

“I think we all wish we could take them off and be done. Unfortunately, as long as there are people out there who don’t want to be kind to their neighbors and think of themselves first, I think we’re going to be stuck here.”
– Jenni Hlawatsch, Louisville business owner, on the ongoing pandemic protocols

“We are very appreciative that Boulder County Public Health is providing this flexibility for our businesses to both advance vaccination in our community, encourage that, and at the same time provide (businesses) the flexibility to operate without masks and invite customers in who are in compliance with the vaccination regulations.”
– John Tayer, president and chief executive officer of the Boulder Chamber

“Rather than trying to poison everybody in the whole country with this quote-un-quote vaccine, which we don’t even really know what it is, it would be much better if we supported people in getting their (own) health in order so their immune systems were strong, and so their natural immunity could kick in and deal with the virus, which is the way we deal with all viruses”
– Amber Nelson, Longmont resident

“ERA programs are up and running for the large part, but they are slow to get money into the hands of renters”
– Aaron Dibner-Dunlap, Surgo Ventures senior research scientist