Social distancing could drag on for months in Colorado. How will we stay sane?

Vincent Atchity found himself in the near-constant company of his family this week as he worked from home in his role as president and CEO of the advocacy group Mental Health Colorado. 

At one point, he half-jokes, he had to hide in the basement from his two kids, 7 and 9, to get things done. His wife also works remotely and together they’ve taken on another task, essentially home-schooling the kids during a day that hasn’t stretched to meet the challenge of school closings.

Welcome to life in the time of the coronavirus pandemic, when measures to blunt the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, have upended familiar routines and stretched social fabric beyond the giddy semi-isolation of a snow day.

For Atchity, the unprecedented stress on Colorado’s collective mental health isn’t just a professional concern. Like most people these days, he’s living it.

“Any time a family is stuck together for a prolonged period of time, the upside is you’ve got each other,” he says. “The downside is cabin fever will set in. So what do you do?”