Gov. Jared Polis called for the state to find 300 to 500 additional beds for hospitalized patients as new projections suggest the ongoing COVID-19 surge could lead Colorado to exceed its hospital capacity in December.

Current measures meant to keep people out of the hospital and to use every bed are “not going to be enough” as more and more people become severely ill from COVID-19, Polis said Wednesday during a meeting of the Governor’s Expert Emergency Epidemic Response Committee.

New modeling discussed at the meeting showed more than 2,000 people could be hospitalized with the virus across the state by year’s end, surpassing the high point of last fall’s deadly wave.

This comes as Colorado currently is experiencing some of the highest rates of new COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations in the nation.

Polis didn’t outline where additional hospital beds would come from, other than to say state officials would work with existing health care facilities to accommodate more patients rather than build field hospitals, such as the facilities set up in the early months of the pandemic that never were used.

“It’s not going to be the same, when we built thousands of beds, and they were standalone facilities,” he said. “In case the other interventions are not successful, we want to make sure every Coloradan gets care.”

Cara Welch, spokeswoman for the Colorado Hospital Association, said some hospitals may have unused beds or areas they could convert to house patients — if they can get enough staff. However, to add 500 beds quickly, the state would probably have to use some kind of alternative space, she said.

Polis also said vaccine requirements at large venues could be important in slowing the virus’ spread, but it wasn’t clear if he intended to issue a public health order, or just encourage cities to do so.

He didn’t discuss mask mandates as a possible measure to contain the virus, though the state health department did confirm the COVID-19 modeling team was assessing whether increased mask-wearing would limit new hospitalizations.

More than 2,000 patients

State epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy said that, as is, the state’s hospitals could potentially take 2,000 to 2,200 COVID-19 patients — assuming nothing changes, such as a bad flu hitting the state or many people getting injured because of bad weather.

The latest projections, updated this week, show the state could get close to capacity, or exceed it, she said.

If current trends continue and the pace of vaccinations doesn’t change, 2,258 people could be hospitalized with COVID-19 by Jan. 1. If three-quarters of Colorado adults get booster shots by the end of December, the peak could be lowered to 2,082 hospitalizations, Herlihy said. Increased use of monoclonal antibodies to prevent high-risk people from becoming severely ill from the virus could also reduce demand for hospital beds, she said.

The state didn’t release data about how hospitalizations might change if more unvaccinated people chose to get the shot, though Polis said the state wouldn’t be running out of hospital beds if more people were vaccinated. Unvaccinated people are about nine times as likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19 as people who are two weeks out from their final shot.

The previous modeling report, issued Friday, had estimated hospitalizations could peak at 1,383 in late November, if nothing changed. But the increasing trend in people becoming seriously ill accelerated in recent days, and Colorado exceeded that projection on Monday.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported 1,431 people were hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 as of Wednesday afternoon, which was the highest number since Dec. 15. The highest point of the pandemic came on Dec. 1, at 1,847 hospitalizations.

Over the last week, Colorado has had an average of about 750 beds available each day, Herlihy said.

“We’re really at an all-time low for the hospital beds that are available in the state currently,” she said.

Colorado among worst in nation

Cases and the percentage of tests coming back positive both rose Wednesday. Colorado had the third-highest rate of new COVID-19 cases compared to population as of midweek, behind only Alaska and North Dakota, and was tied for the sixth-highest hospitalization rate, according to The New York Times.

Outbreaks also increased for a 15th straight week, with 649 considered active, according to data from the state health department. Schools accounted for the largest share of outbreaks (251) followed by nursing homes (86) and assisted living facilities (81).