Colorado’s COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rose again last week, and state officials warned the situation isn’t likely to get rosier anytime soon.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported 5,583 new cases in the week ending Sunday, which was the highest total since mid-May.
Colorado has seen about a 30% week-over-week increase in COVID-19 cases, said Dr. Rachel Herlihy, the state epidemiologist.
“(It’s) certainly not the same picture we are seeing in some states across the country right now, but Colorado — like many states — is certainly seeing a pretty dramatic increase in cases,” she said.
While Colorado isn’t experiencing a COVID surge like Florida is seeing, Gov. Jared Polis urged residents Monday not to get complacent. Florida’s vaccination rate, with 67% of eligible people receiving at least one shot, isn’t significantly lower than Colorado’s 70% rate, he said.
“We expect it to get worse before it gets better,” he said. “The good news is our hospital capacity is not in jeopardy. We don’t expect it to be in jeopardy.”
As of Monday afternoon, 405 people were hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 — just seven shy of the peak of the July 2020 wave. While the rise in hospitalizations wasn’t as steep as it was in the worst days of the fall and spring waves, it did appear to be speeding up, rather than slowing down. The number of people newly admitted to the hospital rose about 13%, after several weeks when it was relatively flat.
About 80% of cases and 87% of hospitalizations in the first three weeks of July were in unvaccinated people, Herlihy said.
The one bright spot was that new vaccinations rose for a second week in a row in the week ending July 25, with at least 54,319 shots administered. The total could still rise as late reports come in.
Talia Quandelacy, an assistant professor at the Colorado School of Public Health, said she hopes enough people will get vaccinated to start bending the curve of new infections, but right now, the “rapid” growth in the numbers doesn’t offer much cause for optimism.
“Things look like it’s getting worse,” she said.
As of Monday, 49 of Colorado’s 64 counties had what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers “high” or “substantial” spread, with 50 or more cases for every 100,000 people. Almost half of the counties in the state had more than 5% of their tests come back positive over the last week, and the statewide positivity rate also rose above the 5% goal last week.
Counties with the highest rates of cases compared to population are:
- Mineral: 392.7 cases per 100,000 people
- Summit: 258.2
- Hinsdale: 244.2
- Rio Blanco: 206.1
- Archuleta: 178.5
- Moffat: 173.6
- Pitkin: 163.3
- Montrose: 142.6
- Chaffee: 137.5
- Mesa: 133
- Gunnison: 131.5
- Las Animas: 131.1
- El Paso: 129.1
- Routt: 116.9
- Weld: 116.8
- Clear Creek: 112.9
- Baca: 112.5
- Eagle: 105.3
- Costilla: 103.3
The evidence on how often vaccinated people can spread the delta variant is mixed, but out of caution, people should wear masks in indoor settings in areas with high or substantial transmission, Quandelacy said.
While vaccinated people are unlikely to become seriously ill even if they are infected, they could inadvertently spread the virus to older people and those with compromised immune systems, who may not have developed a strong defense after vaccination, she said.
Polis encouraged everyone to wear masks in crowded indoor spaces and around vulnerable people, but said vaccines remain the key to getting the disease under control.
“If you’re unvaccinated, it’s like you’re in a lightning storm, on top of a building, waving a metal rod. You’re really putting yourself at risk,” he said.