NEW VIDEO: When @MayorHancock went to DIA yesterday to fly out for Thanksgiving, he wasn't hiding out. Security video shows him sitting in Concourse C for 16 minutes before boarding his flight. He was also sitting at 8:43a, when his account tweeted to "Avoid travel, if you can."
NEW SATURDAY: Denver Mayor Michael Hancock returned home from his Thanksgiving trip last night. The top question we've heard since Wednesday is summed up this way: "Will you resign?"
"I don't want to be hypocritical, but I made the unwise, hypocritical decision to go, and that's why we are here today." -@MayorHancock on his Thanksgiving travel out-of-state.
"I wish I had," Denver Mayor Michael Hancock says about avoiding travel. He also points out other guidelines he has recommended that he does follow: wearing masks and not gathering in groups.
Will he still be the face of Denver COVID-19 briefings after not following guidelines he provided?
Yes.
"I didn't follow a guideline, but I did follow the guideline to travel because the caveat, if you are going to travel, is to do certain things, and I followed those to a T."
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock will quarantine for 14 days and work remotely, so he will be paid. I asked if his decision to travel despite telling others to avoid it could cause more people to avoid guidelines and create more Colorado COVID-19 deaths.
"I certainly hope not."
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock has never tested positive for COVID-19. He told me he quarantined once after being in contact with someone who tested positive and most people didn't know.
So... if he tests positive, particularly from this trip, will he be public about it?
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BREAKING: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and First Gentleman Marlon Reis test positive for COVID-19. #9NEWS#copolitics
Gov. Jared Polis and First Gentleman Marlon Reis are asymptomatic, according to Gov's office news release. They will isolate at home. #9NEWS#copolitics
Gov. Jared Polis announced he began quarantine on Wednesday night after being exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19. Polis tested negative on Wednesday night. #9NEWS#copolitics
About 30 minutes before his flight, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock tweeted this.
One week ago today, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock sent this "Message from the Mayor's Office."
"As the holidays approach, we all long to be with our families in person, but with the continued rise in cases, I’m urging you to refrain from travel this Thanksgiving holiday."
Longmont's Mayor Brian Bagley is challenging Weld County's decision not to enforce the state's COVID restrictions. If one of the two hospitals in Longmont is nearing capacity, he wants the space reserved for patients from counties that are enforcing the restrictions.
Weld County shows 57 ICU beds available, but the county includes 12 hospitals not within county limits. Last week, commissioner Barbara Kirkmeyer told me, "We don’t look at just the 2 hospitals that are located right here in Weld Co. We look at it as the Northern Colo. region."
Could Longmont really prevent a hospital from caring for a patient that lives in Weld County? What if that patient is following the restrictions? I asked Joshua Ewing, the VP of Legislative Affairs for the Colorado Hospital Association.
An interim legislative committee on prison population is meeting on the impact of last week’s Denver City Council vote to end contract w/private companies GEO & CoreCivic, which house ~500 inmates transitioning out of prison. It’s had uncomfortable moments. #coleg#copolitics
Public Safety Director Stan Hilkey, DOC Director Dean Williams, Denver Public Saefty Chief Troy Riggs and Denver Deputy Director Eric Williams are on the hot seat answering tough questions by prison population management committee.
Hilkey started with worst case scenarios:
•Influx of triple digit inmates being returned to state prisons (which don’t currently have enough beds)
•Detainees could be released homeless
•Detainees might walk away versus return to prison #coleg#copolitics