DENVER — Mariah Obrecht spent her afternoon in Cheesman Park, keeping her social distance from the many who were also at the park enjoying the sunny day.
"I just wanted to get some fresh air, I picked up running since I’ve been self quarantining," Obrecht said.
Obrecht's friend, Autumn Isenagle, is also getting used to the new normal.
"I'm definitely an extrovert so I’ve had some anxiety about not being able to interact with people," says Isenagle.
With the bars being closed on St. Patrick’s Day, Justin Edmonds and his friends are having their own happy hour, online. The group uses FaceTime and Zoom to interact while having a glass of their favorite adult beverage. Edmonds said it's a way for them to vent about what's going.
"Everybody is down, whether you are working from home or losing a paycheck, everyone is mentally affected," Edmonds said.
Edmonds also used this "virtual happy hour" as a way to give back to his local bartenders who are losing a lot of tips, especially today. Each day they invite one bartender to join the growing group. They then donate to that bartender.
"All the bartenders are hurting, they can't actually work, so we figured if we can choose one individual person and all donate our couple dollars on any given day, then they might see something," Edmonds said.
He created a hashtag called #BartenderOfTheDay. He's hoping it catches on so others will also donate to their local bartenders. Another hashtag he's using is one many have taken to already, #DoingMyPartCO. Governor Polis announced the movement at Monday's new conference. The idea is aimed at spreading awareness on the fight against coronavirus and what Coloradans are doing to make sure the state is mitigating the spread of the novel coronavirus
"This is a great movement, I really think that I could be a part of it so as soon as I realized I had all this extra stuff and I’m like, 'What am I doing with this?' I got on this hashtag, made a quick video on TikTok and posted it on Twitter," said Danielle Cosgrove.
Cosgrove had extra toilet paper and hand sanitizer she purchased before the demand skyrocketed. She gave a few of her at-risk neighbors some of her supply and she is hoping others follow in her foot steps.
"I know we are supposed to be practicing social distance, but if you can give it to someone without being face-to-face with them, please do it," Cosgrove said.
