Shortly before noon on an overcast day in May, a steady stream of vehicles flowed through the parking lot of a Southeast Colorado Springs nonprofit. 

As El Paso County tallied 145 new COVID-19 cases and four deaths in the last week, county commissioners voted on May 5 to seek the state’s permission to allow local schools to hold  graduation ceremonies in the coming weeks.

As of 4 p.m. April 22, the Colorado Department of Public Health was reporting 10,878 cases, 2,123 hospitalizations and 508 deaths due to COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. That data is current through April 21.

Gary Butterworth had trouble finding the right words.