New York nurses come to Utah, to 'give back' for the help they got during the worst of the Big Apple's COVID-19 battle

A lot of news about COVID-19 in the last couple weeks.

The most positive story I wrote — and, indeed, one of the happiest stories of this entire pandemic — was getting to meet a group of ICU nurses from New York. They came to Utah last week to share their skills and experiences with the Intermountain Medical Center.

The exchange is a “thank you” to Intermountain, which sent some 100 nurses to New York to help out this spring, when “the city that never sleeps” was getting hammered by an influx of COVID-19 cases.

Read the story here, at sltrib.com.

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Other news about COVID-19 that I’ve written lately:

• The Sundance Institute is starting to firm up its plans for the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. It will be seven days, instead of the usual 11, and start a week later than planned. It also will be in fewer venues, and serve only about a quarter of the usual theatergoers.

• The Great Salt Lake Fringe festival, a showcase for experimental theater, got even more experimental by necessity this year — as it went online-only.

• The Days of ‘47 Parade, a staple of Utah’s Pioneer Day celebration, didn’t happen this year. The last time that was the case was during World War II — and before that, in World War I. I looked at the parade’s history of cancellations.

• One industry to be especially hard hit by the pandemic and lockdown is the people who put on live events — like concerts, sporting events and conventions. About 100 people, representing stagehands and related jobs, marched on the Utah Capitol to call some attention to their plight.

• Covering the day-to-day case counts, I’ve written about the virus’ impact on Utah’s Pacific Islander population, the drive to process tests faster, and Gov. Gary Herbert’s call to reduce the daily average number of cases in the state.