We Should All Reach for 'Turquoise Level'

Less than 9% of people in the United States have been fully vaccinated from the coronavirus and just a hair above 16% have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Those numbers are from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and they’re definitely an improvement from 0% just a few months ago.

I’m not an epidemiologist, but I do have a calculator on my phone. According to my phone-math, we still have about 290,000,000 more people to vaccinate in this country. Let’s put the simple math to the side for a moment.

Remember those terrorism threat levels that became a daily news item in the months and years after the terrorist attacks on 9/11? We remained at the “Red” (severe) or “Orange” (high) risk levels for years and years until they got rid of that system in 2011. The pandemic reinvigorated those kinds of color-coded charts to come back into our lives. It makes for colorful news images, but they do little except scare you or comfort you depending on where you live. For instance, here in Austin, Texas, different shades of red have been used to note that people here are existing in either “very high risk” or “extremely high risk” levels of infection. What’s the difference between very and extremely? No clue. Haven’t figured that out.

Which leads me to our neighbor to the west, New Mexico. They’ve taken ROYGBIV to new levels of color-coding.

Late last month, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued a new Public Health Order to the state’s red, green and yellow colors to indicate where and how businesses can reopen to the public at certain capacity levels. Basically, red = bad, green = good and yellow = not terrible. The governor added a new color: Turquoise. Which, let’s be honest, if there was a color to represent a state, they kind of nailed it with turquoise. If you’ve ever been to the market on the square in downtown Santa Fe or even watched episodes of “Breaking Bad,” turquoise is everywhere. In this order, turquoise is better than green. Which means that counties wanting to be listed as turquoise must have eight coronavirus cases or less per 100,000 people for 14 days and the average COVID-19 positivity rate must be 5% or less for 14 days. Currently, there are four turquoise counties.

Credit unions have been listed as essential businesses across the country from the beginning of the pandemic and it’s no different in New Mexico. What is interesting is now, with the new adjustments to the state’s color-coding key, the Albuquerque-based Rio Grande Credit Union ($440 million in assets, more than 35,000 members) can finally do something they’ve been waiting to do for more than a year – open up The Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park. Last February the credit union purchased the naming rights to the famous Minor League Baseball team’s stadium. About 20 days after the naming rights deal was announced, which CU Times reported on, live events around the world shut down. Since then, the stadium has been empty. But, if things go well and the area hits Turquoise Level goodness, the Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park could be allowed to have 75% capacity by next month.

Scenes like this are playing out around the country for credit union-named stadiums and arenas that have been barely used in a year. In Johnson City, Tenn., the TVA Credit Union Ballpark is going to host the spring commencement for graduates of Milligan University in May.

The Credit Union 1 Arena, on the University of Illinois – Chicago campus, has become one of the latest vaccination sites. According to recent reports, medical officials have vaccinated about 1,000 people each day since it opened last month.

The Latino Community Credit Union in Charlotte, N.C., joined with other area non-profits to host a series of vaccination drives.

Depending on where you live, there are some great signs that the world we used to know will come back. We’re just not there yet. But, credit unions are helping.

Credit unions and leagues in different corners of the country are getting involved in some way or another to help all of us get back out into the world. Getting correct and non-political information out to members has been incredibly crucial. For instance, the Michigan Credit Union League and Affiliates has done an excellent job keeping its “COVID-19 Vaccine Information” page updated regularly with vaccination information during these early months of the qualifying age- and health-based phased rollout.

What makes me and many others nervous is the attempt to reopen (again) communities, counties and states as if we’re done with the pandemic. The Texas governor announced the state will be open 100% as of March 10. The city and county leaders in Dallas-Ft. Worth, El Paso, Houston, Austin and San Antonio said that isn’t happening. We’re not there yet. That simple math I referred to earlier shows that we have at least 90% of our population still vulnerable to this nightmare of a pandemic. I’d like this to end just as much as anyone who pretends it’s not real or that it’s over.

This is when I appreciate what credit union executives and employees have done. You all have accomplished some amazing things and done a tremendous job during this past year figuring out how to best serve your members. You’ve adjusted. Members have adjusted. Members potentially have a new level of trust in you because you have a community-caring mission.

For those of us who haven’t had a haircut, been in a credit union branch, flown on a plane or been inside a bar or restaurant in a year, we are very excited about this slow climb out of our home offices and into the sunshine warmth of public gatherings and hearing those beautiful words, “Your table is ready. Please follow me.”

Soon, my credit union friends, if we do what needs to be done and we continue to help our communities stay safe, we can all hopefully achieve that glorious color-coded level: Turquoise.

Michael Ogden is editor-in-chief for CU Times. He can be reached at mogden@cutimes.com.