Darlene Zwolinski’s monthly sales dropped from $10,000 to
$1,200 in March when she closed up her acupuncture practice as the
novel coronavirus swept into Colorado and prompted a statewide
stay-at-home order.
Now, she’s preparing to reopen, but said the practice will
look different than before. She’ll wear a mask and ask clients to
do the same. She’ll use paper on her tables instead of sheets,
sanitize surfaces more frequently and stagger clients’
appointments so no one bumps into each other in the waiting
room.
“I don’t think people can be protected until we have a
vaccine or antibody tests,” she said. “I think this will be how
I run my practice until then.”
As the state prepares to lift its stay-at-home Sunday, officials
warned that a phased approach to reopening the economy will be
required, and Coloradans will need to maintain some level of social
distancing for months to avoid a second wave of coronavirus
infections. But with the state mandate lifting, the impetus for
taking those precautions now moves from government to individuals,
Gov. Jared Polis said this week.
How that will look varies from person to person. Some are ready
to jump back into life as normal when the order lifts, but others
are prepared to avoid pre-coronavirus activities like eating out or
going to the movies for several months, or longer.
Andy Gerber, a 54-year-old IT worker at a large health care
company who lives in Denver, said he plans to work remotely for the
foreseeable future, and that he’ll limit other day-to-day
activities as well, like grocery shopping, visiting the hairdresser
or going to the gym.
A season-ticket holder for the Colorado Symphony, it’s tough
to imagine returning to another concert this year, he said, even if
performances restart.
“It will depend on what infection rates look like,” he said,
adding that it’d be different if he could take an antibody test
to see if he’s already had the virus and recovered, potentially
developing some immunity.
Harvard University researchers estimated this month people
around the world will need to social distance to some degree into
2022 as the virus makes seasonal rounds through the population,
unless hospital capacity is increased or a treatment or vaccine is
developed for the novel coronavirus.
Without such measures, Gerber said he’ll continue to be
cautious.
“I am planning to take it very carefully,” he said, adding
that for him, one of the first steps to returning to normalcy will
be spending time with friends again. “Maybe a BBQ in the back
yard where we are not sitting in a room with closed windows? I
don’t know, it’s scary stuff.”
He’s not alone in that attitude. A recent poll by Seton Hall
University in New Jersey found that nearly three out of four
Americans said they would not attend major sporting events before a
vaccine is developed.
Of 46 responses to a Denver Post query, most said they’d take
extra precautions even after the stay-at-home order lifts,
including working from home, avoiding restaurants and large
gatherings, and canceling summer trips. Eleven people said they
plan to return to life as normal as soon as possible, without
taking any additional precautions.
“If a restaurant was open today I’d be having dinner at a
restaurant,” Randy Ketner, a 60-year-old in Aurora, said. “If a
bar was open, I’d be sitting there having a drink with
friends.”
Three passengers walk through an empty security line at Denver
International Airport on April 15, 2020, in Denver.
He feels the statewide stay-at-home order was too restrictive
and an overreaction to the pandemic. He’d like to see vulnerable
people, like those who are older or who have underlying conditions,
stay home to avoid overloading the health care system while others
mingle to develop “herd immunity.”
“We’re all getting it,” he said. “Might as well get out
there and get it over with.”
He’s planning to get married June 10 in Italy, a trip he still
hopes to make, even though most guests have said they can’t
attend.
“It’s not necessarily a matter of keeping the date,” he
said. “It’s a matter of, I want to go to Italy. To me it’s
like my second home. And we don’t see what’s going on as a
reason not to go.”
Related Articles
Crime dips dramatically in Denver during coronavirus, but some
offenses are on the rise
Summer concerts at Hudson Gardens canceled over coronavirus
concerns
A 16-year-old Denver girl died this week of coronavirus, school
officials say
Josepha “Jossy” Eyre, founder of the Women’s Bean Project in
Denver, dies of coronavirus
Colorado’s new safer-at-home phase is not a grand reopening, Gov.
Jared Polis says
The state’s phased approach to reopening reflects a need to
balance residents’ health against mounting economic devastation,
said Colorado Health Institute CEO Michele Lueck.
“If we have this really damaged economy, that too is going to
take lives, that too is going to create sickness within the
population,” she said, adding, “It may be a longer, more dotted
line to suboptimal health outcomes, but at some point we’re going
to have to weigh what the impact to our health and economic
environment is to be on stay at home orders versus the longer term
impact of having a closed society. They’re both detrimental to
the health of Coloradans.”
For 25-year-old Dominique Miles, in Crested Butte, the
coronavirus and shutdown upended her life so much that it’s
difficult to even picture a return to normalcy.
She and her fiance moved to Colorado from Tulsa in late October,
using much of their savings on the move and some subsequent
surprise veterinarian care for their dogs. She’s an artist, and
he works in restaurants.
When the novel coronavirus hit, the art festivals where Miles
sells her jewelry shut down. Art galleries closed. Her fiance was
laid off from his restaurant job. Now, they’re scraping by,
living with reduced rent at the resort where her fiance worked, and
hoping to stay there until mid-May.
After that, they might have to leave Crested Butte and Colorado
all together, Miles said.
As for summer plans?
“All of them are canceled if we can’t find work,†she
said.
Join our
Facebook group for the latest updates on coronavirus in
Colorado.
