By Rocky Mountain Voice Editorial Board
This third installment of RMV’s COvid Chronicles is divided into two parts — for good reason. The first week of May set the stage for something bigger: the breaking point. As pressure mounted and defiance spread, Colorado crossed from quiet frustration into open resistance. Part one captures the fuse. Part two will show the wildfire.
May began just like April ended – edicts from above, fear from the press and politicians telling Coloradans to stay home, shut up and stay six feet apart. But by the first week of the month, cracks were showing.
From Castle Rock to Colorado Springs, citizens, sheriffs and small-business owners weren’t waiting for permission. They had bills to pay, kids to raise and a Constitution they weren’t willing to quarantine.
These are the COvid Chronicles for May 1-7, 2020…
COvid Chronicles catch-up
• Introducing The COvid Chronicles: How fear and force reshaped Colorado
• COvid Chronicles April 1-15, 2020: Fifteen days that changed Colorado forever
• COvid Chronicles April 16-30, 2020: From tattletales to tyranny
May 1
The price for your freedom? That’ll cost you $999 in Denver effective May 6, 2020.
On this first Friday of May, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock ordered, effective the following Wednesday, wearing face coverings in the city’s public spaces. The language on Hancock’s order included mask mandates for those “waiting outside” retail or commercial businesses, bus stops, health care services “and more,” according to the Denver Post.
City spokesman Michael Strott said, though people frolicking at Denver’s parks, trails and sidewalks were not required to wear face coverings, “they’re encouraged to do so as appropriate.”
And what exactly constituted a “face covering?”
“They may be manufactured or homemade and can be made of fabric or other soft material,” the Denver Post’s Conrad Swanson wrote of the mayor’s edict. “The nose, mouth and lower face must be covered.”
Ah, the pesky and highly viral “lower face.”
The order had no end date, though Swanson reported city officials said people “should get used to wearing face masks in public and that social distancing measures will likely remain for months.”
As the cherry-on-top of his “impartial” report, Swanson took a swipe at pro-life advocates, noting how opponents of face masks “have co-opted the abortion rights phrase ‘my body my choice.'”
Five years after the onset of the pandemic, the overwhelming majority of American taxpayers have made clear they’re fed up with illegal immigration fueled by the previous administration. And the impact of subsidizing and prioritizing services for those who illegally entered our country and state. Just over 100 days into President Donald Trump’s second term in 2025, a secure border and increased deportations receives the most consistent public approval of his America First agenda.
But in 2020, the media did a great job muddying the matter on just where Americans stood on the issue.
Case in point: A guest op-ed in the Post penned by Daniela Gomezcastro, a care management specialist at St. Joseph’s Hospital and a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program – meaning she was living in the United States illegally. In her May 1 column, Gomezcastro argued how the pandemic proved “taking DACA health workers out of the workforce would not only exacerbate this (worker) shortage, but would also weaken the country’s ‘preparedness for and ability to withstand incidents with public-health consequences.'”
It was yet another pandemic self-fulfilling prophecy – illegal acts openly committed, illegal immigrants openly coddled, and the COVID crisis conveniently used to argue that Colorado’s Democrat-driven policies must become permanent.
May 2
Five years later, even the most loyal Fauci apologists have begun to admit what was once considered unspeakable: that COVID-19 most likely leaked from a Chinese lab in Wuhan – one partly funded by your tax dollars.
In May 2020, saying that out loud could get you censored, ridiculed, put on a government watch list or erased from the internet. And yet back then, Americans and the self-anointed “experts” lapped up the propaganda like gospel truth. Hindsight hasn’t made it less ridiculous – only more disturbing.
We see this narrative in full display in a May 1 op-ed by Dr. Amy Levine, director of field conservation programs at the Denver Zoo, published in the Denver Post. The headline – “Coronavirus pandemic is a reminder of the delicate human-animal interface” – reads Orwellian in hindsight.
In the piece, Levine laments that even as a scientist who studies this very interface, she’s “astounded by the fact that a seemingly small human-wildlife interaction in one corner of the world can quickly have monumental impacts across the globe.”
Turns out, dear doctor, you had quite the right to be astounded – you were being flagrantly lied to, Wizard-Of-Oz style. There was no aardvark, pangolin or bat behind the curtain, only a deep-state doctor and his cohorts in cahoots with the communist Chinese to cover up how they caused this crisis by confounding citizens criss-crossing the continents.
Alas, bless Dr. Levine’s heart circa May 2020, as she dove deep into her doctoral expertise to warn Denver Post readers about how exotic animals at their beloved zoo, maybe like, say, the Peruvian Lake Titicaca Frog, all too often fall victim to the kind of tragic third-world wildlife trade that produced the pandemic.
“In this part of the world, it’s not uncommon to find street market stands that sell ‘frog shakes,'” Dr. Levine warned Denver Post readers. “Whole frogs are blended with other ingredients and the green-brown concoction is purported to have special healing powers. Talk about an opportunity for disease to take root!”
May 3
Colorado Springs residents opened their Sunday papers to a bold, above-the-fold headline delivering a reassuring message – that all their sacrifices in isolation weren’t in vain:
Colorado dodged catastrophe
To drive the point home, The Gazette paired its headline with a subheadline, a featured photo, and a caption echoing the official line. The image – a socially distanced family dance on Corona Street – captured the era’s strangeness, their limbs like inflatable balloon men swaying outside auto lots. The caption left no room for doubt: “Medical experts and business leaders agree: staying at home slowed the spread of COVID-19.”
In Denver, then-18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler sounded the alarm in a May 1 Denver Post op-ed. He warned that the economic fallout from lockdowns, coupled with Gov. Polis’ decarceration orders, had made Colorado “ripe for a coming crime wave” just as spring took hold.
Brauchler cited a chilling early indicator: an 80% drop in reported child abuse cases in Arapahoe County between March 26 and April 30. To him, it wasn’t a sign of safety but silence – caused by removing teachers and other reporters from kids’ lives. That alone, he argued, undercut media claims that crime was down.
“Criminals take their cues from the justice system,” Brauchler wrote. After Polis pushed to lower jail populations, even property crimes stopped resulting in jail time. Car thefts surged – jumping from 332 in mid-March to an average of 454 per week. In the metro area alone, that was a staggering 49% increase.
Prophetic? Tragically so. Within two years, Colorado would become the nation’s car theft capital – the land of the unfree, home of the Kia Boys.
“These are just a handful of tea leaves that portend a surge in crime,” Brauchler wrote. “I want to be wrong, but these factors must be discussed.”
If ol’ George only knew what downtown Denver was about to become in just two weeks – thanks to another ol’ George 800 miles away, whose death would ignite a firestorm across the nation.
May 4
Denverites eager to get off their couches got a glimmer of hope from Mayor Hancock at the start of that work week, as he confirmed the city’s stay-at-home order would be lifted by Friday. But Hancock made it clear: slow and steady would win the race in Colorado’s capital. City officials predicted most restrictions wouldn’t be fully relaxed for another four months.
“Hancock has said repeatedly that allowing everyone to rush out of their homes and into stores or other crowded locations at once could be dangerous,” Denver Post reporter Conrad Swanson wrote. “The goal is to avoid another spike in coronavirus cases that might cause the city to order everyone inside again.”
The magic number of people Denverites could commiserate with at once – so long as it was done in proper “socially-distanced” inflatable-car-salesman-balloon-man fashion? Ten. Just like Gov. Polis’ “safer-at-home” edict.
Need eleven to play a pick-up soccer game in Wash Park? Sorry – guess you’re a criminal with a death wish.
May 5
Coloradans weren’t celebrating their health this Cinco de Mayo. In fact, state leaders made it painfully clear that one of the core pillars of physical well-being – exercise – had become a public enemy under the “new normal.” Gov. Polis’ “safer-at-home” edict didn’t permit gyms to reopen.
As with most authoritarian measures, once viewed through the lens of real-world logic, the absurdity begins to unravel. Such was the case with Polis’ exercise restrictions: indoor personal training or fitness classes were capped at four people – unless all participants lived in the same household.
And in Denver, Mayor Hancock went a step further. He “strongly encouraged” outdoor exercisers to wear a mask while recreating.
What about a friendly outdoor game of pick-up basketball? Doubles tennis? Were these now considered illegal under Polis’ statewide order?
Well – not necessarily. But only if every player was from the same household.
Lace up the Jordans and get off the couch, grandma – it’s time for some one-on-one, Polis style.
Meanwhile, a Nielsen report revealed just how thoroughly sedentary Denver’s “new normal” had become. The Denver metro area ranked among the top U.S. cities for increases in screen time across the board. During the week of March 16, Denver posted a 21.7% spike in total TV usage over the previous week – second only to Austin, Texas. By the week of March 23, the Mile High City had logged a staggering 78% increase in internet-connected device use compared to March 2 – behind only Chicago.
That same week, signs also began to emerge that pandemic policies had permanently reshaped office life – ushering in a hollowed-out version of what downtown Denver’s commercial real estate scene looked like back in February 2020. Just ask the downtown chamber of commerce what the past five years have been like.
In Lone Tree, for example, Charles Schwab officials estimated that roughly 95% of their employees were still working from home – despite Polis allowing offices to reopen under strict restrictions starting Monday.
May 6
Even the state’s top – and highest-paid – athletes weren’t immune to Polis’ exercise edicts. As restless Nuggets fans wondered when the NBA might return, no more than four players were allowed inside the Pepsi Center’s practice facility at once.
Workouts were strictly limited to one-on-one instruction between a player and a single staff member – who was required to wear “appropriate gloves” during the session. And per a detailed NBA memo, that staffer couldn’t be a head coach, a “front-of-bench” coach or even a front office executive.
Meanwhile, on the political court, former Colorado U.S. Sen. and failed Democrat presidential hopeful Gary Hart reemerged – this time to moralize the pandemic. He co-authored a Denver Post op-ed with Janine Davidson, president of Metropolitan State University and a member of the National Commission on Military, National and Public Service. The piece, quoting JFK in its headline, read: “Once again, we must ask what we can do for our country.”
The duo wrote that while the coronavirus spread in mere weeks, “it will take years for us to repair the damage done.” That damage, they explained, included “persistent flaws and inequities in our society that have been exacerbated and laid bare by this crisis.”
They continued, “Part of that will be committing – as individuals and as Americans – to seek new ways to serve the common good.”
“Our country has seen how the pandemic has disproportionately affected low-income communities and people of color,” the pair added later. “In the short term, we must serve those communities to mitigate the pain; in the long term, we must commit to lift up leaders from those communities and empower a new, diverse generation of American public servants.”
At the same time, Denverites and other isolated urban Coloradans stared out their windows at the growing tent encampments sprouting across sidewalks and medians. And yet, for those Coloradans trying to pitch a tent in the middle of the woods, far from anyone outside their “household,” Polis’ Colorado Parks and Wildlife had a warning: that, too, was strictly forbidden at state parks.
“Our staff is working hard to make sure we can provide safe and enjoyable experiences for everyone,” a CPW press release stated – while tents multiplied just a stone’s throw from their shuttered headquarters and staff Zoomed their assignments in from home.
May 7
The reeducation of restauranteurs was reported by Erin Prater on the front page of the Thursday Gazette. Out on the plains in Calhan, small business owners at Karen’s Kafe and Stephanie’s Bar and Grill bucked both state and El Paso County eatery edicts and had a clear message to the powers-that-be: “We’re not shutting down.” The decision, Karen Starr said, was in defense of constitutional rights and the solvency of her small business.
El Paso County Public Health wasted no time in issuing a press release, dutifully informing the public that the restaurants had been contacted by phone and “provided education regarding the public health order stating they can not offer in-person dining.” The next day, the department followed up by sending cease-and-desist letters to Starr.
But while rural restaurant owners fought for survival, Denver Post entertainment writer Danika Worthington, reporting for The Know section, took a very different approach to lockdown life. To her, quarantine was fun – a game, in fact. Literally. She created an actual game for readers to celebrate “the quarantine quirks that are uniting us. The impulse buying. The howling. The person on a video call who’s always on mute.”
“While Coloradans stay 6 feet away from each other,” Worthington continued, “let’s come together within our new reality and play one of the oldest games in the book: Bingo.”
In a self-parody that practically wrote itself, Worthington and the legacy media crafted a literal quarantine bingo game – revealing just how out of touch their sensibilities had become with the lived reality of everyday Coloradans.
“See how well you do and share the results online by using the hashtag #coloradoquarantinebingo and tagging us (Twitter and Instagram: @thknwco, Facebook: facebook.com/denverentertain).”
Are you not entertained?
No doubt Karen Starr played along – perhaps between balancing the books at Karen’s Kafe. But that’s OK. She’s just being a “Karen.”
Check back Sunday for the next installment of RMV’s COvid Chronicles, covering May 8–15, 2020 — the week the fires of freedom ignited.