DENVER — Warnings and advice from health experts only work if people understand them.
Some health departments in Colorado are working to expand how many languages they use to share information about COVID-19, so that they may reach as many people as possible.
Here's a look at resources provided by some agencies in the state.
>> Watch more in the video report above from Anusha Roy.
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment's website can be translated into around 60 languages by using the translate button in the right hand corner.
City and County of Denver
Loa Esquilin with the city's Office of Emergency Management said Friday that the city was working on translating informational videos into Vietnamese, Arabic and Somali, along with English and Spanish, covering the top five languages spoken in Denver.
Videos in American Sign Language were posted Friday afternoon and videos in other languages were to follow.
Esquilin said the city was also printing posters for city and county buildings in multiple languages and could share them in restaurants and businesses, as well.
"We had materials ready in multiple languages, meaning Spanish, English and [American Sign Language]," said Esquilin. "That first layer of defense was already in place and in place for a while. We're opting for more expanding for our reach, we can always grow and be better and that's what we are doing right now."
The office is set up to do translations during any kind of emergency.
The City of Denver's website can be translated into more than a hundred languages online, as well.
Tri-County Health Department
The public information officer for the Tri-County Health Department, Gary Sky, said in an e-mail:
"All of our diverse communities have systems in place to distribute vital information, often through their churches or community partners. In addition, we are working with the Aurora Office of International and Immigrant Affairs to translate information into numerous languages that are used locally. I have attached some examples in English, Spanish, Chines and Korean. Additional languages currently being translated are Vietnamese, Amharic, Nepali and Karen."
Boulder County
The Boulder County Public Health department said they had a similar strategy, working with community groups for months.
In an e-mail, public information officer Chana Goussetis said that means working with community groups to share handouts from the Centers for Disease and Control, and public health social media posts within the community.
She also wrote:
"We work through cultural brokers to share messages and have established a local Joint Information System to quickly get messages to all of our communities, and are also working with non-English media outlets."
Custer County
In Custer County, public health officials said their minority population is Amish and others who are not able to travel to town.
Health officials have met with Amish leaders and are going door to door to meet with those who may not make it into town.
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