Berthoud Weekly Surveyor | Covering all the angles in the Garden Spot

News Bites – June 24, 2021

By: Amber McIver-Traywick | The Surveyor | June 24, 2021 | Local News

The Larimer County Coroner identified the person found in Carter Lake on June 12 as 29-year-old Spencer Stetler who was reported missing after being known to have gone to the lake back in April.

The coroner ruled that the manner of Stetler’s death was an accident, with the cause of death being asphyxia by drowning.

Stetler’s body was found by a boater around 8 a.m. June 12 in the lake just west of Berthoud. The boater called the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office to report what he believed to be a body in the waters of the lake. Deputies and Larimer County Park Rangers responded and confirmed the body was an adult male and he was removed from the water.

A Larimer County park ranger found Stetler’s kayak overturned on the lake April 11. His dog was also found unharmed.

The Sheriff’s Office called off the search five days later, after more than 70 searchers from 12 agencies spent over 700 hours searching in and around the lake. Throughout the search, officers used drones, dogs, divers, side-scanning sonar, towed sonar arrays and an underwater remote-operated vehicle to try to locate Stetler’s body.

Thompson School District approved the 2021-2022 school year budget unanimously last week setting the funding at $173.7 million.

The district is estimating that student enrollment will drop slightly from the previous school year decreasing from 13,483 students to 13,350.

During the time of public comment, there were no participants that spoke pertaining to the budget.

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Restaurants still reeling from the pandemic have reason to celebrate this week as Governor Jared Polis signed a new bill into law extending alcohol beverage take-out and delivery for the next four years in Colorado.

Polis signed the bill Tuesday afternoon inside a locally owned restaurant in Avon that stayed open in part through their ability to sell alcoholic beverages to-go during mandatory closures of in-door dining.

“It’s been tough for small businesses and restaurants,” Polis said. “But we’re always looking to figure out what are those things that we did during the pandemic that worked and can create a new normal that’s better for small businesses, for consumers.”

Polis also said that the practice of not allowing to-go purchases was “senseless and outdated.”

The practice enabled a new revenue source as restaurants struggled with the restrictions of the pandemic. According to the Colorado Restaurant Association’s January 2021 survey of restaurant owners, 93% of restaurants said selling alcohol to go was making them revenue during the pandemic. A majority of respondents, 62%, called it essential to their survival.

While the bill only extends the permission for four years, Polis, along with other local officials are optimistic that the bill will be successful and made permanent in the future.

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There is what health officials are calling an “unprecedented blood shortage” across the U.S. and locally here in Colorado. Hospitals and medical facilities are urging individuals to make an appointment to donate blood as soon as possible.

Summertime activities and vacations often prevent people from sticking to their regular blood donation schedules, according to Bridget Aesoph, the donor recruiter at UCHealth Garth Englund Blood Centers in northern Colorado. But this year, the typical summer lull in donations and the seasonal rise in demand for blood have both been exacerbated by the pandemic.

Hospitals are seeing an increased number of severe trauma cases and emergency department visits as well as more blood transfusions because of deferred care and advanced disease progression.

At Garth Englund Blood Centers, red blood cell donations have dropped by nearly 3 percent and demand has increased by almost 9 percent since summer 2019. According to the American Red Cross, the red blood cell demand from hospitals with trauma centers has climbed 10 percent this year nationally.

Officials expect this shortage to last for weeks or even months in what could be the most challenging summer blood centers have seen in years.

“Donating once would be great, but we are really hoping that more people will donate every eight weeks for several months to help keep blood on the shelf,” Aesoph said. “We are going to need a continuous supply coming in to get through this.”

Donations of all blood types are needed and important. However, the center especially needs donors with O blood type and donations of platelets of all blood types.

  • To donate in northern Colorado: Call 970.495.8965 or go to bit.ly/UCHealthBloodDonation to schedule an appointment at UCHealth’s blood donor centers in Loveland or Fort Collins.
  • To donate in other areas of Colorado:  Go to aabb.org and submit your ZIP code to find a blood center near you.

The blood centers are also in high need of new platelet donors. Platelet donations take anywhere from 90-120 minutes.

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A wildfire in Routt County called the Muddy Slide fire, northwest of Kremmling and east of Yampa, exploded Tuesday night, pushing smoke high into the air, forcing evacuations and has since grown to over 1,000 acres.

Some of the smoke from that fire, along with smoke from other blazes both inside and outside the state, have moved into the Front Range.

There are currently 6 active wildfires burning in Colorado.

The National Weather Service in Boulder issued a red flag warning on Wednesday for northern parts of the state. The forecast currently calls for hot, dry and windy conditions across the area creating a critical fire danger. Across the I-25 corridor and plains, it will be very hot with high winds in the mid-90s to 100 degrees. Scattered showers may produce gusty winds across the area while producing little to no rain.

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Total Cases: 27,228

Total Cases in Berthoud: 1,221

Deaths: 254

7-day case rate per 100k: 30

Hospital Utilization: 74%

ICU Utilization: 84%

7-Day test positivity rate: 1.4%

Risk Score: Medium

COVID patients in hospital: 23

*Case data as of Wednesday morning.

7.5% of the population of Larimer County has been reported to have contracted the virus. Deaths attributed to the virus comprise 0.93% of reported cases. Of reported deaths, 26% were age 75 to 84 and 47% were 85 and older.

As of Monday, 371,016 doses of the vaccines have been administered in Larimer County. 59.7% of county residents over the age of 12 have received at least one dose of the vaccine. County health officials have set a vaccination rate of 65% as their goal.

Monday the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) began making outgoing phone calls to Colorado residents age 18 and older who have not yet received a COVID-19 vaccine. Callers will provide information about vaccination, help with scheduling appointments at local vaccine locations, and answer questions about the COVID-19 vaccines.

The outbound call campaign is an effort by state officials to reach Colorado’s goal of having 70% of adults vaccinated with at least one dose by July 4. This goal is in line with President Biden’s National Month of Action, which aims to increase vaccination rates across the country.

The calls will be completed by COVAXCO, the call center that has been answering inbound calls about COVID-19 vaccination in Colorado. Information will be available in multiple languages. Coloradans can continue to call the inbound vaccine hotline at 1-877-CO VAX CO (1-877-268-2926). The hotline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Additionally, CDPHE will send text and email notifications to people between the ages of 18 and 29 years old who may be overdue for their second COVID-19 vaccine. CDPHE previously sent similar messages to people over the age of 30.

 

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