Despite the threat of COVID-19 and nearby forest fires that have blanketed the city in smoke and ash, the thousands of hours of planning paid off as Colorado State University made it to the halfway point of the fall semester this week.
With strict safety protocols still in place, campus is far from normal. But as of Oct. 8, more than 22,200 COVID-19 tests had been conducted by campus health professionals (along with many more tests around Larimer County), and the number of positive COVID-19 cases is lower than many expected.
A brief reprieve from smoke early in the week, combined with peaking autumn colors, gave students, faculty and staff a chance to breathe in fresh air and exhale some optimism, along with a chance to remember why this is one of the best times of the year to be on campus. As seen in the video above, Journalism and Media Communication Department Chair Greg Luft used this as a reason to escape work for a few hours for some visual fun with his iPhone.