COVID-19 hospitalizations rise statewide, locally
The average number of new COVID-19 cases has consistently fallen in Colorado for the first time in weeks, state data shows, but hospitalizations continue to climb and hit a new recent high Monday.
Colorado has reported an average of 1,405 new COVID-19 cases each day over the past week, according to data published each weekday by the state Department of Public Health and Environment. That’s up slightly from Sunday’s total, but it’s the first steady downturn since this latest pandemic wave began in July. The numbers are still elevated compared to any point since early May.
Despite that good news, the state’s average positivity rate over the past week is 6.69%, its highest level since Jan. 11. Hospitalizations, the metric closely followed by state officials and policymakers, also continued to increase Monday. Eight hundred and seventy-four Coloradans are hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19. That’s the highest overall level since Jan. 17.
Just under 800 people — 796 — are confirmed COVID-19 patients. That’s also the highest since Jan. 17. Eighteen percent of Colorado’s hospitals have reported an expected staffing shortage in the next week, plus 11% who say they’re projecting they’ll face ICU capacity problems in the next week.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly every county in Colorado has high rates of community spread. Only five have low rates, while five more are described as having “substantial” spread. State data provides a similar snapshot: Over the past two weeks, all but three counties are rated as having “very high” rates of per-100,000 infection rates. In the past week, it’s slightly better: Fourteen are not rated as very high.
“At this point in the pandemic, the most effective response is to implement requirements for vaccination and for mask-wearing in indoor settings,” Glen Mays of the Colorado School of Public Health said in an email, “particularly for high-risk settings such as schools, healthcare, and long-term care settings.”
The state took a step in that direction Monday: The board of health voted overwhelmingly to require vaccines for health care workers across the state, adopting a request from Gov. Jared Polis.
Denver’s case numbers have also started to show signs of improvement. The incident rate has fallen almost uniformly over the past seven days. But the city’s hospital census is at its highest point since late May.
In El Paso County the number of COVID-19 cases is rising, driven by the highly contagious delta variant, with about 530 new cases in the last three days. County public health data also show 7.75% of those tested are positive for the virus, a number that’s been steadily rising.
The high number of cases is putting pressure on hospitals locally and across the state, and facilities are taking steps to address capacity concerns, such as training staff to work in intensive care units and postponing procedures that might require hospital admission, said Cara Welch, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Hospital Association. Capacity includes staff, space and supplies.
The recent opening of the Combined Hospital Transfer Center on Friday could help balance some of the demand for hospital care, she said. In the Pikes Peak region 10% of the ICU beds are available, state health department data show. The region includes Teller and El Paso, Lincoln, Kit Carson and Cheyenne counties.
Across El Paso County, hospitals were caring for 132 patients with COVID or COVID-19 related symptoms on Friday, about the same amount of patients the county was caring for during the May wave. Data for Monday was not yet available.
“The goal of the transfer center is to make sure we are maximizing all of the resources in our hospitals all across the state,” Welch said.
Medical director for El Paso County Public Health Dr. Robin Johnson said last week that local hospitals were bringing intensive care units services to available beds to service patients to meet demands. Local hospitals are also working on staffing models.
“I think staffing is going to be one of our bigger challenges as we move forward. There’s a shortage we’re seeing … after the previous year,” she said.
In the Pikes Peak region, UCHealth started postponing a limited number of non-urgent surgeries and procedures this week, spokeswoman Cary Vogrin said. Hospital staff also relocated some procedures to the UCHealth Grandview Hospital. Both steps helped to open up beds for patients with urgent health care conditions, she said.
UCHealth is caring for 75 COVID-19 patients, the highest number since Jan. 4.
While the UCHealth staff is weary, they are rising to the tremendous challenge, Vogrin said.
“They never imagined this would be happening again and that so many people wouldn’t have been vaccinated by now,” she said. UCHealth is providing resources to address the toll the rise in cases can have on staff.
Centura Health is also caring for more COVID-19 patients, a vast majority of whom have not been vaccinated, said Becky Brockman, spokeswoman for Penrose-St. Francis.
At Children’s Hospital, the staff is seeing a high number of children with respiratory illness, a few months earlier than usual, said Sarah Davis, a spokeswoman for the system. Last week the health provider told The Gazette its pediatric ICU volume was 60% higher than typical for this time of year.
“It is highly unusual and concerning for us to see volumes this high at this point in the year, especially when we know we’ll have more patients now that school is back in session and more viruses circulate,” she said.
El Paso County schools are also starting to report COVID-19 outbreaks, state health department data shows.
Two District 49 schools, Horizon Middle School and Remington Elementary School, have both seen outbreaks. Horizon has seen 15 students and two staff members test positive and Remington has seen eight students and two staff members test positive.
District 49 is not expecting to implement a mask mandate after the outbreaks, spokesman David Nancarrow said.
“We believe a mask mandate would trigger widespread defiance and would become a significant distraction to learning,” he said.
El Paso County Public Health is not pursuing any mandates, but it is strongly recommending vaccinations and other public health steps such as masking and frequent hand washing.
More info on vaccinations can be found at elpasocountyhealth.org/how-can-i-get-a-vaccine.
COVID-19 hospitalizations rise statewide, locally
The average number of new COVID-19 cases has consistently fallen in Colorado for the first time in weeks, state data shows, but hospitalizations continue to climb and hit a new recent high Monday.
Colorado has reported an average of 1,405 new COVID-19 cases each day over the past week, according to data published each weekday by the state Department of Public Health and Environment. That’s up slightly from Sunday’s total, but it’s the first steady downturn since this latest pandemic wave began in July. The numbers are still elevated compared to any point since early May.
Despite that good news, the state’s average positivity rate over the past week is 6.69%, its highest level since Jan. 11. Hospitalizations, the metric closely followed by state officials and policymakers, also continued to increase Monday. Eight hundred and seventy-four Coloradans are hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19. That’s the highest overall level since Jan. 17.
Just under 800 people — 796 — are confirmed COVID-19 patients. That’s also the highest since Jan. 17. Eighteen percent of Colorado’s hospitals have reported an expected staffing shortage in the next week, plus 11% who say they’re projecting they’ll face ICU capacity problems in the next week.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly every county in Colorado has high rates of community spread. Only five have low rates, while five more are described as having “substantial” spread. State data provides a similar snapshot: Over the past two weeks, all but three counties are rated as having “very high” rates of per-100,000 infection rates. In the past week, it’s slightly better: Fourteen are not rated as very high.
“At this point in the pandemic, the most effective response is to implement requirements for vaccination and for mask-wearing in indoor settings,” Glen Mays of the Colorado School of Public Health said in an email, “particularly for high-risk settings such as schools, healthcare, and long-term care settings.”
The state took a step in that direction Monday: The board of health voted overwhelmingly to require vaccines for health care workers across the state, adopting a request from Gov. Jared Polis.
Denver’s case numbers have also started to show signs of improvement. The incident rate has fallen almost uniformly over the past seven days. But the city’s hospital census is at its highest point since late May.
In El Paso County the number of COVID-19 cases is rising, driven by the highly contagious delta variant, with about 530 new cases in the last three days. County public health data also show 7.75% of those tested are positive for the virus, a number that’s been steadily rising.
The high number of cases is putting pressure on hospitals locally and across the state, and facilities are taking steps to address capacity concerns, such as training staff to work in intensive care units and postponing procedures that might require hospital admission, said Cara Welch, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Hospital Association. Capacity includes staff, space and supplies.
The recent opening of the Combined Hospital Transfer Center on Friday could help balance some of the demand for hospital care, she said. In the Pikes Peak region 10% of the ICU beds are available, state health department data show. The region includes Teller and El Paso, Lincoln, Kit Carson and Cheyenne counties.
Across El Paso County, hospitals were caring for 132 patients with COVID or COVID-19 related symptoms on Friday, about the same amount of patients the county was caring for during the May wave. Data for Monday was not yet available.
“The goal of the transfer center is to make sure we are maximizing all of the resources in our hospitals all across the state,” Welch said.
Medical director for El Paso County Public Health Dr. Robin Johnson said last week that local hospitals were bringing intensive care units services to available beds to service patients to meet demands. Local hospitals are also working on staffing models.
“I think staffing is going to be one of our bigger challenges as we move forward. There’s a shortage we’re seeing … after the previous year,” she said.
In the Pikes Peak region, UCHealth started postponing a limited number of non-urgent surgeries and procedures this week, spokeswoman Cary Vogrin said. Hospital staff also relocated some procedures to the UCHealth Grandview Hospital. Both steps helped to open up beds for patients with urgent health care conditions, she said.
UCHealth is caring for 75 COVID-19 patients, the highest number since Jan. 4.
While the UCHealth staff is weary, they are rising to the tremendous challenge, Vogrin said.
“They never imagined this would be happening again and that so many people wouldn’t have been vaccinated by now,” she said. UCHealth is providing resources to address the toll the rise in cases can have on staff.
Centura Health is also caring for more COVID-19 patients, a vast majority of whom have not been vaccinated, said Becky Brockman, spokeswoman for Penrose-St. Francis.
At Children’s Hospital, the staff is seeing a high number of children with respiratory illness, a few months earlier than usual, said Sarah Davis, a spokeswoman for the system. Last week the health provider told The Gazette its pediatric ICU volume was 60% higher than typical for this time of year.
“It is highly unusual and concerning for us to see volumes this high at this point in the year, especially when we know we’ll have more patients now that school is back in session and more viruses circulate,” she said.
El Paso County schools are also starting to report COVID-19 outbreaks, state health department data shows.
Two District 49 schools, Horizon Middle School and Remington Elementary School, have both seen outbreaks. Horizon has seen 15 students and two staff members test positive and Remington has seen eight students and two staff members test positive.
District 49 is not expecting to implement a mask mandate after the outbreaks, spokesman David Nancarrow said.
“We believe a mask mandate would trigger widespread defiance and would become a significant distraction to learning,” he said.
El Paso County Public Health is not pursuing any mandates, but it is strongly recommending vaccinations and other public health steps such as masking and frequent hand washing.
More info on vaccinations can be found at elpasocountyhealth.org/how-can-i-get-a-vaccine.