MARCH 9, 2020
Outside, the sun was shining on a 50-degree, bluebird day in Denver. But inside Star Bar, a divey booze hall in the Ballpark neighborhood, the low lighting befitted the prevailing mood. It was roughly 4 p.m., and my longtime colleague and I were numbing our disappointment at the cancellation of a work trip to New York City because of what everyone was calling “a novel coronavirus.” After a second (third?) beer, I remember turning to look at my friend, sighing, and then saying, “Do you think we’ll look back on today and say, Those were the good ol’ days?”
Less than a week before, health officials confirmed Colorado’s first case of what would quickly become known as COVID-19. Two days later, the World Health Organization declared the…
