Cases of COVID-19 rose in Colorado for the fifth week in a row following a long decline, reaching levels not seen since April.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported 3,113 new cases of the coronavirus in the week ending Sunday. The state had recorded 3,760 cases during the peak week for infections in late April.
The increase in cases from two weeks ago to last week was relatively small, at about 6%, but it followed an increase of 50%. Because the rate of increase has been up and down over the last five weeks, it’s difficult to tell whether the state’s rise in cases is gaining steam or slowing down.
More than 40,000 people in Colorado have been confirmed to have contracted the virus since March, with testing scaling up to record levels in recent weeks — even as ongoing delays in results have frustrated many. Following a slow increase in the positivity rate since mid-June, that figure — the percentage of overall tests that come back positive — began dropping late last week.
Additionally, hospitalizations are still far from their April peak of 888.
The Colorado Hospital Association reported 275 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Monday. The number of hospitalizations had risen rapidly in the first weeks of July, but the increase leveled out over the weekend. Ventilator usage jumped on July 10, but has been relatively stable since.
UCHealth, which operates 12 hospitals in Colorado, said Monday that while it’s still considered “a very manageable and safe level,” the network’s current number of nearly 70 coronavirus patients is more than double what it was just two weeks ago.
One factor in the lower hospitalization rate compared to April could be that recent infections are more likely to be in children, teens and young adults, who are less likely to need intensive care than the older people who disproportionately hit at the beginning of the pandemic. It’s also possible that the rate will rise, since most people don’t develop severe symptoms in the first days of the illness.
Deaths may have been down compared to the previous week, but a clear answer on the fatality trend may take at least another week. Deaths from the second week of July were still being reported Monday. If the numbers don’t change much, however, it could signal last week’s increase in deaths was a blip, rather than a trend.
Some experts have raised concerns that the increase in cases could generate more patients in need of intensive care than hospitals can accommodate. Others are less concerned, saying hospitals can adapt.
Social distancing has fallen steadily in Colorado since mid-May, according to a report prepared for the White House coronavirus task force, though some local experts think the real change began a few weeks later. Typically, cases are reported one to two weeks after infection, so changes in behavior don’t show up immediately in the data.
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Colorado’s COVID-19 cases rise for fifth week, though hospitalizations remain far from April peak - The Denver Post
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