October 26, 2020 12:01 PM UTC

Mayor Mike Has COVID-19, And Trump Gave Up

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Aurora Sentinel reports, get well wishes are in order for Mayor Mike Coffman of Aurora, and a close call for Gov. Jared Polis as the third wave of the very much ongoing COVID-19 pandemic grips the state:

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis was but now isn’t quarantining himself after learning that Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman tested positive for the coronavirus over a week after they appeared with other officials at a press conference, a spokesperson for the governor said Sunday.

Earlier Sunday, spokesperson Maria De Cambra said Polis would quarantine while waiting to hear from health officials investigating who else may have been exposed to the coronavirus about whether he should continue to isolate himself.

Sunday evening, spokesperson Conor Cahill said he was advised by state health officials there was no risk to Polis during the joint press conference.

“TCHD disease control investigators conducted an interview with Mayor Coffman this afternoon and have determined that there is no risk to Gov. Polis…Therefore, Gov. Polis and others at the that event with Mayor Coffman have been informed that they do need to quarantine as a result of this situation,” Cahill said in a statement in a statement.

Mayor Coffman’s symptoms didn’t last long, fortunately, but the renewed rapid growth of COVID-19 cases in Aurora and across the state forced the reimposition of stricter guidelines for gatherings this weekend, which should as of now consist only of 10 or fewer people in a maximum of two households. The latest modeling shows Colorado exceeding hospital capacity for COVID-19 patients on the present trajectory, and the testing positivity rate–over 9% in Adams County, which includes part of Aurora–is a very serious reversal of progress made over the summer.

We wish there was better news, but as readers know, “we’re not going to control the pandemic.” In 2016, Mike Coffman held on to his seat two years longer than he should have by saying of Donald Trump, “I don’t care for him much.” After losing his seat in Congress and now catching the virus Trump promised would go away by Easter, we imagine Coffman doesn’t care for Trump much more today, either.

But just like in 2018 and Cory Gardner today, Coffman will only say Trump’s name if you drag it out of him.