Good morning southern Colorado and here's what you need to know on your
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Colorado opens vaccine eligibility to all Coloradans 16 and older
Colorado is opening up vaccine eligibility to all residents 16 and older as of today, expanding access to the general public ahead of the state's earlier goal of mid-April, Gov. Jared Polis announced on Monday. Polis said it could still take up to 6-8 weeks for members of the general to receive a vaccine appointment. But by the end of May, anyone who wants the vaccine should be able to receive a dose, Polis estimated.
Coloradans 16 and older will be eligible for the Pfizer vaccine. Eligibility for Moderna and the one-dose Johnson & Johnson will be for Coloradans 18 and older.
The state has also opened several mass community vaccination sites.
- Adams County - Dick's Sporting Goods Park
- Sunday - Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Register: centura.org/covid-19/covid-19-vaccine-information
- Call: 720-263-5737
- Denver County - Ball Arena
- Monday - Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Register: primarybio.com/r/truecare24-cdphe/
- Call: N/A
- El Paso County - Broadmoor World Arena
- Friday - Monday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Register: centura.org/covid-19/covid-19-vaccine-information
- Call: 720-263-5737
- Mesa County - Grand Junction Convention Center
- Monday - Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Register: health.mesacounty.us/covid19/vaccine
- Larimer County - The Ranch Events Complex
- Monday - Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Register: larimerhealth.secure.force.com/Vaccine
- Pueblo County - Colorado State Fairgrounds
- Friday - Monday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Register: centura.org/covid-19/covid-19-vaccine-information
- Call: 720-263-5737
This page on the state's COVID-19 website has links to each vaccine provider and information on how to sign up.
According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Walmart, Sam’s Club, Safeway, Cardinal, and Kroger (City Market and King Soopers) pharmacies are administering COVID-19 vaccines in Colorado through the U.S. Federal Retail Pharmacy Program. Eligible customers can visit vaccinefinder.org to check vaccine availability at each location or schedule a vaccine appointment via each pharmacy’s website:
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COVID cases dropping among El Paso County residents over age 70
There is some encouraging COVID-19 data out of El Paso County, likely influenced by the vaccine. "We're starting to see the effect of the previous month's vaccinations on serious illness,” said Fadi Youkhana with El Paso County Public Health.
The percentage of COVID-19 cases in El Paso County’s high risk of over 70 residents is dropping. "We've got to think about this in terms of vaccine timeline,” said Youkhana, “When you get vaccinated it's not an off/on switch it takes some time for your immunity system to pick up the vaccine for it to be effective."
COVID cases for January were at just over 7% for the over 70 group when vaccinations started. At the end of February, the percentage dropped to just over 5%. The percent went down even more to 2.8% by the end of March when more Coloradans over 70 than not had been fully vaccinated.
The good news for the over 70 crowd is tempered by the overall incidence in El Paso County going up. It means a higher number of cases in younger groups. Until more people are vaccinated COVID-19 prevention measures need to continue.
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News 5 Investigates: Why are some people still unable to access unemployment benefits?
Our News 5 Investigates team continues to hear from viewers who say they are no longer getting the unemployment benefits they believe they are entitled to receive.
As we learned, the majority of those issues boil down to fraud integrity holds that require you to verify your identity. The state's verification system requires claimants to confirm their first and last name, social security number, email address, phone number and 8-digit claim ID number associated with their account.
Another way to check if there's a hold on your payments is to log into your My UI+ account.
For a walk-through of the process from News5 Investigates Eric Ross, click here.
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Deadline for ballots in Colorado Springs Municipal Election looms
Ballots have already arrived in mailboxes across Colorado Springs for the April 6th election. Six city council district seats are up for election, along with a ballot question.
City Council is made up of nine residents, six of which represent specific areas of the city. The remaining three are at-large members elected in a separate election. You can find out which district you live in by visiting the following link: Colorado Springs City Council- Find my District.
To learn about candidates in each race, visit our Election Watch Page.
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Get your latest First Alert 5 Weather forecast
The weather is going to continue to be fantastic across southern Colorado today, but unlike the last couple of days, we'll see a bit more cloud cover. There will still be periods of sunshine today, but clouds out of the mountains could be thick to overcast for parts of the day. Temperatures will warm despite any cloud cover into the 70s and even a few 80s in the eastern plains.
We'll be clear and cool tonight with lows in the 30s and 40s. Temperatures will be about the same tomorrow as what we see today, but we'll have more sunshine. Sunday will probably be a record temperature day in southern Colorado with highs in the upper 70s in Colorado Springs and mid-80s in Pueblo.
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