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Week of November 24, 2022
ADAMS COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
Northglenn-ThorntonSentinel.com
VOLUME 59 | ISSUE 16
Children facing early, intense respiratory virus season Health officials concerned BY JENNIFER BROWN THE COLORADO SUN
An alarming number of Colorado children with the respiratory virus called RSV are filling
emergency rooms and intensive care beds as the state experiences an “early and intense” start to the flu season, state health officials and Children’s Hospital Colorado warned. “It’s truly like nothing we’ve ever seen before at Children’s Hospital Colorado,” said Dr. Kevin Carney, a
pediatric emergency physician and Children’s associate chief medical officer. The hospital’s in-patient and ICU beds across the state are operating at or above maximum capacity, and emergency room and urgent care visits for respiratory illness are 30% higher than the busiest days
of a normal flu season, which typically runs January through March. Children’s is now postponing surgeries and other procedures in order to have the staff and space to treat children with RSV, the flu and COVID-19, he said. SEE HEALTH, P8
CRITIQUE OF THE CONTINUUM:
Is Westminster’s response to homelessness enough? BY LUKE ZARZECKI LZARZECKI@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
A fox ventures through the snow on Conifer’s Shadow Mountain.
Lukas, an independent climate researcher, wrote in an email. As of early November, the statewide snowpack was 140% of the median from 1991 to 2020, and 142% in the Colorado River headwaters area specifically, according to SNOTEL data compiled by the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Alan Farb isn’t satisfied with Westminster’s response to the rising homelessness in the city and he made that quite clear during their Nov. 14 study session discussion of the city’s Continuum of Compassion program. “I find this to be a rather disingenuous phrase that the city, primarily through this council, endorses and parades around as if it is being kind, merciful, humane when in fact the practice is the opposite,” he said. While he champions the two homeless navigators the city has hired to work with those experiencing homelessness to connect them to resources, he said the money sent from Westminster to Jefferson County to provide a space for those people to stay doesn’t make any sense since the facility would be in Arvada or Lakewood.
SEE SNOW, P14
SEE HOMELESS, P2
PHOTO COURTESY OF DEBBIE FORD
Early-season snow off to good start in high country Too soon to get excited, but snowpack is 140% of average BY CHRIS OUTCALT THE COLORADO SUN
Snowpack on the Western Slope is off to a good start, but experts caution it’s difficult to draw many
meaningful conclusions from snow-covered, high-country peaks this early in the season. “It’s kind of like leading a football game by a field goal halfway through the first quarter,” Jeff
INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 10 | LIFE: PAGE 12 | CALENDAR: PAGE 15 | SPORTS: PAGE 16
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Hometown Holidays In this week’s paper!