opened in aurora and colorado springs in november 20—was confirmed to have resulted in 122 employees testing positive. the outbreak began at the aurora location on december 6 and at the colorado springs location on december 17. march 2021 on march 7, a large gathering on university hill near cu boulder coalesced into a riot of about 800 students. the riot has since been described by some as a significant violation of covid-related regulations at both boulder and the cu boulder campus, with concerns that the riot would result in a slower re-opening of the campus and further prohibitions on student gatherings. several police officers were reported to have been injured by the students. april 2021 april 6, the first covid-19 p.1 variant cases are reported in colorado. the two people that tested positive are residents of boulder county. public health officials originally identified the p.1 variant among travelers from brazil and p.1 has been nicknamed the brazil variant. may 2021 the b.1.617.2 variant, one of several first found in india, is first reported in colorado on may 6. the five people who tested positive hadn't recently traveled outside mesa county. 2022 omicron surge during a surge in infections driven largely by the omicron variant, colorado hospitals were overwhelmed, at times to the point when they could not provide what under normal conditions would be consider the minimum of adequate medical care. the state activated crisis standards of care for medical staffing on november 9, 2021, and for emergency medical services on january 7, 2022. normal standards of care were reinstated on february 17, 2022. government response members of the colorado national guard assisted with testing for covid-19 at a state veterans' home in aurora, april 29, 2020. on march 10, governor jared polis declared a state of emergency, ordering the state's department of labor and employment to develop rules for requiring employees in sectors such as foodservice and health care be offered paid sick leave if they display symptoms. the march 14 executive order to close ski areas for a week was the second most significant action by the governor. on march 22, governor jared polis ordered non-essential businesses to reduce the number of people physically present in the workplace by at least 50 percent via remote work. colorado was set to purchase 500 ventilators before the federal emergency management agency swooped in and bought them first. u.s. president donald trump announced on twitter that the federal government would be sending 100 ventilators to colorado at the request of senator cory gardner. the incident caused governor polis to make future supply purchases in secret. self-quarantine of government officials on march 17, both senator cory gardner and representative jason crow elected to self-quarantine for 14 days, until march 25. both gardner and crow interacted with a coloradan who tested positive for covid-19 on march 11. the legislators represented two of 14 members of the u.s. congress who decided to self-quarantine. on march 19, colorado state rep. dafna michaelson jenet reported testing positive for coronavirus. michaelson jenet was the first member of the colorado general assembly to report testing positive for coronavirus and elected to self-quarantine in her home. michaelson jenet was at the colorado capitol on march 14, the day it closed due to the virus. vaccine distribution the covid-19 vaccine has been referred to as "the most valuable asset on earth"; interpol called it "liquid gold" and warned of an "onslaught of all types of criminal activity". vaccine shipments will be escorted by colorado state patrol officers from denver international airport to the state's eight distribution points; the exact plans are confidential and law enforcement will "maintain a low-key profile". impact on sports main article: impact of the covid-19 pandemic on sports most of the state's sports teams were affected by the pandemic. several leagues began postponing or suspending their seasons starting march 12. major league baseball cancelled the remainder of spring training on that date, and on march 16, they announced that the season will be postponed indefinitely, after the recommendations from the cdc to restrict events of more than 50 people for the next eight weeks, affecting the colorado rockies. also on march 12, the national basketball association announced the season would be suspended for 30 days, affecting the denver nuggets. colorado avalanche the 2019–20 colorado avalanche season was suspended for an indefinite amount of time as the national hockey league suspended the season. after a player on the ottawa senators tested positive for coronavirus on march 17, concerns arose about the avalanche's potential exposure. the avalanche used the same visitor's locker room at the sap center against the san jose sharks after the senators. college sports in college sports, the national collegiate athletic association canceled all winter and spring tournaments, most notably the division i men's and women's basketball tournaments, affecting colleges and universities statewide. on march 16, the national junior college athletic association also canceled the remainder of the winter seasons as well as the spring seasons. impact on religion a catholic church in denver main article: impact of the covid-19 pandemic on religion christianity on march 12, the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints canceled public services worldwide. other christian denominations, such as methodist and evangelical churches, began to close or announce alterations to their schedule around the same date. highland united methodist church in denver was opened to allow for an assembly line manned by volunteers to produce protective masks in early april. messiah baptist church in denver received criticism for remaining open. a statement from the church said, "we are not canceling any service due to the covid-19 virus, snow, hail, wind, locust or any other natural or super natural event with the exception of the rapture. if christ comes to call us home, whoever is left behind can do what they want." the salvation army, catholic charities, and fuel church organized in april to help deal with the increase in the need for meal donations and food assistance in colorado springs. the economic impact of the virus left an increase in donation requests across the state. restrictions ordered by governor polis, in certain localities, restricted capacity of worship services to 25 percent or a maximum of 50 people. high plains harvest church of ault went to court against the state, arguing that the limitations imposed were "draconian numerical limits" and that places of worship were more regulated by the restrictions than retail shopping. this challenge, as well as one raised by a catholic priest and a rabbi from new jersey, both argued that such restrictions were unconstitutionally targeting religion. the united states supreme court on december 15, 2020 sided with the churches, sending the cases back to lower courts for review with colorado's government informing the supreme court that it had moved "to remove capacity limits on all houses of worship at all times in response to this court's recent decisions." catholic church the catholic archdiocese of denver began cancelling public services in march, including cancelling sunday mass through april 17. holy week masses were moved to live-streams from each parish, as well as masses featuring archbishop samuel j. aquila. the rite of christian initiation of adults was moved to the 30 may pentecost vigil. in the diocese of pueblo, bishop stephen jay berg offered dispensation for those who were experiencing flu-like symptoms in early march. on sunday, march 8, parishes in the diocese stopped filling holy water fonts and stopped offering the eucharistic blood of christ in the chalice. on march 13, the diocese cancelled all masses following governor polis banning all public gatherings of 250 people or more and closed the schools operated by the diocese. march 13 announcement, made by the archdiocese of denver, affected the entire ecclesiastical province of denver, including the diocese of colorado springs. on april 12, the easter mass held at denver's cathedral basilica of the immaculate conception was broadcast live by kdvr. a spokesperson for the archdiocese described participating in easter celebrations from home as an act of charity. on tuesday, 1 september, father daniel nolan, a catholic priestly fraternity of st. peter priest at the fraternity's littleton parish of our lady of mt. carmel told parishioners at a catechetical lesson to "disobey your bishop, disobey your governor" and not wear a mask, calling the reporting and response to covid-19 a "scamdemic" and "attempted communist takeover of the united states." the parish posted the video on youtube on tuesday before taking it down wednesday. the archdiocese of denver, in which the parish is located and archbishop samuel aquila governs, and the fraternity both launched a review of the priest and his statements, which some interpreted as violating catholic teachings on ecclesiastical and civil authority. the archdiocese of denver maintained its dispensation from the sunday mass obligation, publishing guidelines that laity should discern whether they are in significant health danger, interacting with individuals in significant health danger, or were using the dispensation as an excuse to stay home. due to colorado's designation of places of worship as "essential," parishes in the state remained open through the renewal of restrictions and stay-at-home orders in the final quarter of 2020. on pentecost sunday, may 23, 2021, the archdiocese of denver lifted its canonical dispensation from attendance of mass on sundays and holy days. episcopal church the episcopal church in colorado, the sole episcopal diocese in the state, released a statement for bishop kimberly lucas on the pandemic on march 13, 2020. the statement announced the cessation of public services on march 22 to last until april 1, with congregations in more heavily affected areas–which the bishop cited as denver, pitkin, and eagle counties–to immediately stop offering services. beginning sunday, march 15, episcopalian parishes began using live-streaming services to allow congregants to watch from home upon the recommendation of reverend canon carl m. andrews, the diocese's disaster response director. bishop lucas released a statement on june 3, 2020 announcing that on june 5 the diocese would move to "season ii" and that congregations could begin to regather. following directives from the episcopal church's house of bishops, bishop lucas released a further statement on september 1 that–using the book of common prayer's permissions for special administration of communion and following safety guidelines–reception of the sacrament by the laity would soon resume. judaism temple emanuel in pueblo had already cancelled its passover seder events in april when a suspected arson attack on march 11 destroyed much of the interior of the building. most other synagogues in colorado had cancelled their public events and services by march 19. some jewish schools, such as garden preschool in lone tree, began using video communication to interact with students. temple emanuel in denver offered online courses on how to parent and educate students during the pandemic. islam in late april, celebrations of ramadan began with alterations. some in the colorado muslim community express concerns that immigrants that were only able to communicate with others at their local mosque would find the "stay-at-home" period particularly trying. the downtown denver islamic center announced it would provide online courses throughout ramadan. testing drive-up testing site in telluride. march 17, 2020. despite the urgency for testing coloradans for covid-19, frustrations with the state's limited testing capacity and slow response time continued through the first months of the pandemic. governor jared polis has noted that expanding testing capacity is "absolutely critical", yet limited supplies and a small number of trained medical staff have resulted in a low testing rate. while cdphe implemented a mobile testing site in lowry, denver (later moved to the denver colosseum), the site closed due to long lines. by march 18, 2020 no private laboratories were performing tests and only people who exhibited the most severe symptoms were being prioritized for testing. while some tests can be completed in a matter of hours, colorado's test results have taken up to five days.