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DENVER (KDVR) – Colorado’s state epidemiologist told FOX31 if in-classroom learning is available, she’ll send her daughter to school and said districts should base that decision on data and science.

Dr. Rachel Herlihy, along with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, is advising the state and schools on how to keep students and teachers healthy and prevent COVID-19 from spreading.

The question about sending students back to school – if classrooms open – is one almost all parents are grappling with, including Herlihy, who has a young daughter.

“I’m really — I think like a lot of other parents — following the recommendations and guidance of both public health officials and school officials,” Herlihy said. “I think school districts are being great to give families choices to send their children in-person if they feel comfortable or providing online opportunities. We’ll follow Denver (Public) Schools’ lead and if school can be held in-person, I think we’ll send our daughter.”

Herlihy is a medical doctor who specializes in infectious diseases and has a master of public health degree from The Johns Hopkins University, which has been a nationwide leader in providing COVID-19 data.

“Epidemiologists have trained for this,” Herlihy said. “This is really what our careers are all about…is responding to outbreaks. And this is certainly an outbreak of a unique scale.”

Herlihy has been on the forefront of the fight against the coronavirus ever since it was first detected in Colorado on March 5. And she helped prepare the state for weeks before that.

“We understand that people are very concerned about catching this illness. And we do expect to have more cases here in Colorado in time,” she said at a large news conference with Gov. Jared Polis and other state and health leaders.

Little did Herlihy know, four months later, it would end up being nearly 43,000 cases and the disease would be blamed for killing more than 1,600 people in Colorado.

“This event is of a scale that’s unimaginable,” Herlihy said. “And it’s really certainly been a challenging response.

“I feel proud of our response,” she said. “I feel like Colorado has responded well, that we’ve made data-driven decisions.”