Post Premium: Our best stories for the week of April 27

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It’s hard to imagine a greater disruption to life as we know it than the coronavirus. It has us working from home, working in a more dangerous environment or not working at all.

But the crisis is compounded in Weld County, where an oil and gas price war has devastated the industry that powers restaurants and hotels, charities, local governments and school systems.

Today, reporters John Aguilar and Judith Kohler check in with Weld County workers who have been laid off or seen a drop in work, and they look at the wider community impact to come.

— Cindi Andrews, senior editor

Colorado’s oil and gas country – and its people – suffer from twin hits to industry

Chris Golding has worked mostly in ... — RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post
Chris Golding, who previously was employed primarily in oil and gas as a welder, works on an expansion at the Gourmet Grub restaurant in Greeley on April 30, 2020. As oil prices collapse during the coronavirus pandemic, jobs in the oilfields around Weld County are seeing cuts. Many people, like Golding, are looking for other ways to support themselves.

Five of our best stories from the past week

Meet the Children’s Hospital Colorado doctor who fought off coronavirus and returned to the front lines

Coronavirus survivor Matthew Harris at his ... — AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
Coronavirus survivor Matthew Harris at his home on Tuesday, April 21, 2020. Dr. Matthew Harris contracted coronavirus in mid March. Harris, who is an emergency room pediatric attending physician at Children's Hospital, checked in for his shift on Wednesday, March 12 with a temperature reading of 102.7. Harris then left his shift and the next day was swabbed for coronavirus. Sunday, March 15 brought the news that he was in fact positive for coronavirus. "(I was) terrified," said Harris as he spoke in front of his home in Stapleton. "I've been a paramedic. I am a SWAT physician. Very few things make me sweat. Very few things make me uncomfortable. This just scared the life out of me. Just because I couldn't sit there and say, Ôalright, three more days. seven more days or i am going to be fine.Õ I think also part of it was every time i turned on the news it was a report of another healthy young person that just died. What was the next 24 hours going to bring? ThatÕs what scared me." Harris spent seven days resting at home with symptoms, but was hospitalized for four when his condition worsened. After being released, he spent another seven days recovering at home. Harris, 38, who says he now feels 65 after all of this, noted, "I got sick just as the medical community in general was starting to think about how to protect frontline healthcare workers. We always wear appropriate personal protective equipment. We were all still kind of wrapping our heads around what this could mean. I left the E.R. when things were still relatively normal. I came back to a world of face shields, gowns and gloves every moment of an eight-hour shift. It was just a different world. WeÕre making adjustments. WeÕre rolling with the punches because what choice do we have?"

Dr. Matthew Harris, 38, is the pediatric emergency medical attending physician at Children’s Hospital in Aurora and a supervising emergency room doctor. He is a husband and the father of 5-year-old twins. He eats well, exercises and easily manages his mild asthma. He had not used a sick day in two years.

But in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, with fewer than 100 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Colorado, Harris learned he had COVID-19. Read more from Kyle Frederickson.

RELATED: Are you a Colorado hospital worker? Tell us about your experience with coronavirus.��

More than one in five cases in Colorado are related to residential facilities

Personnel with Centennial Healthcare Center walk ... — Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post
Personnel with Centennial Healthcare Center walk away from an ambulance after helping transfer a resident on Friday, April 10, 2020, in Greeley. The condition of the resident and reason for ambulance transportation is unknown.

More than one in five known cases of the new coronavirus in Colorado are related to housing for older people or those with disabilities, with additional outbreaks at food processing facilities and correctional facilities. Read more from Meg Wingerter.

Metro district board candidates face election challenges because of coronavirus restrictions

Residential area of Green Valley Ranch ... — Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post
An aerial view of part of the Ebert Metro District, a residential area of Green Valley Ranch near the corner of Elmendorf Dr. and 53rd Ave. in Denver on Thursday. Feb. 27, 2020.

It��ap unclear just how many metro district seats are up for grabs Tuesday and how many are being challenged by residents who live there. But some residents say they chose to run after reading Denver Post stories that detailed the inner workings of metro districts, including how developers work both sides of financial deals. Read the latest in our Debt & Democracy series from David Migoya.

Pandemic sucking the economic life out of several Colorado counties, hitting tourism spots especially hard

Andy Cross, The Denver Post
Brian Shay, from Kentucky, at the Vail Resort March 13th, 2013. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)

Just as the novel coronavirus hits people in different ways, the job losses the pandemic have inflicted are not evenly distributed in Colorado, ranging from Great Depression-era dislocations in some counties to relatively manageable declines in others. Business reporter Aldo Svaldi takes a deep dive on how different Coloardo counties are faring.

RELATED: — The Know Outdoors

Colorado mountain lions hit with new hunting plan as people spread

A mountain lion sleeps in a ... — A mountain lion sleeps in a tree on the 1500 Block of Grove Street in Boulder on April 2.

Among the world’s most elusive predators, mountain lions join black bears in Colorado as the last surviving large carnivores, eating mostly elk and deer. These solitary cats weigh up to 150 pounds, run as fast as 50 mph and can leap 40 feet.

But, they face an uncertain future under a new state plan to let hunters kill up to 15% a year across western Colorado, and more near subdivisions — rankling animal rights advocates who favor a live-and-let-live approach to wildlife. Read more from Bruce Finley.

More important headlines

+ “The differences between the haves and have-nots:” Latino students disproportionately lack internet access

+ Colorado’s Muslims forgo community gatherings as they observe Ramadan amid a pandemic

+ 93% of CSU students living in dorms have gone home. Here’s what it��ap like being one of the few remaining.

+ What does May 8 look like for the Denver Nuggets as the NBA tries to get back to work?

+ Gov. Jared Polis outlines state efforts to increase coronavirus testing

+ Development manger settles bid-rigging accusations in Denver convention center expansion

+ Denver scientist leads discovery of new, bizarre mammal species that walked with dinosaurs 66 million years ago

+ Denver sheriff’s deputy fired after lying about missing AR-15 rifle

+ Where to buy local flowers for your mother, your neighbor or yourself — The Know

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