Vaccinated Colorado residents can return to life as normal
Healthy Coloradans who are up-to-date on their COVID-19 vaccinations can return to life as normal as the state prepares for the “next chapter” in the pandemic, Gov. Jared Polis said Friday.
Polis and other state health officials unveiled a four-pronged “roadmap” to prepare for any future surges of the virus, including preparing hospitals to scale up in case of future spikes in infection, monitoring conditions through continued surveillance, building up the health care workforce and asking the federal government to take steps that would help states be prepared.
Under the roadmap, the state’s role in pandemic response would be dramatically reduced by September, though with the intent that it could jump back in if conditions worsen.
“Your public health system is here for you, and we’ll always be protecting you,” said Scott Bookman, Colorado’s COVID-19 incident commander.
An appendix to the roadmap said the state will gradually reduce its role in COVID-19 testing and vaccination. Colorado will start scaling down community vaccination sites “immediately.” By July 1, the state will only operate seven testing sites and, by Sept. 1, it will close down any remaining state-run test sites and the vaccine call center.
Outpatient clinics owned by hospitals would be required to fill the gap by offering COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, and hospitals would have to develop a testing plan to reduce strain in emergency rooms
Polis likened it to how families see their usual health care provider for testing to find out if their child’s sore throat should be treated with antibiotics.
“Not today, not tomorrow, but over several months, this will be closer to that experience,” he said of COVID-19.
Other strategies state’s roadmap:
•Requiring hospitals to show they can surge to 125% of their normal capacity within two weeks, if needed, and that they have a three-month supply of personal protective equipment on hand
•Moving from investigating individual cases to high-level surveillance, using data from health care providers and wastewater testing, and focusing on outbreaks in long-term care homes and correctional facilities
•Creating more opportunities for people to move into the health care field or train for a role requiring more skills, and offer more mental health support in the
•Asking the federal government to investigate alleged price gouging by health care staffing firms, increase its contribution to states’ Medicaid budgets, develop a strategy for obtaining medical supplies and make it easier for health care workers to cross state lines
Polis said Colorado also will phase out its requirement that unvaccinated state employees get tested regularly, though vaccines are still required to work in state-run medical facilities.
More than 90% of Coloradans are believed to have at least some immunity to the virus at this point, either through vaccination or prior infection, and the risk of severe illness or death is dramatically reduced for people who are fully vaccinated, Polis said.
The governor encouraged eligible people who aren’t vaccinated to get the shots and continue taking precautions, while acknowledging many stopped months ago.
“Live your life. Don’t feel guilty. You only live once,” Polis said. “You’ve done your part, Colorado.”
It also would be “smart” for people with compromised immune systems to continue taking precautions while the virus is circulating at relatively high levels, he said.
Polis suggested they talk to their doctors about getting a fourth dose of the vaccine and make a plan to get treatment if they catch the virus, he said. Early treatment with antibody drugs or certain antiviral pills can reduce the risk of hospitalization by as much as 90%.
“Make that plan, call your doctor, say this is what I’m going to do,” he said.
The state’s COVID-19 modeling team has projected that cases and hospitalizations will continue to decline through March, and remain low through June. This week, hospitalizations fell to levels last seen in early August, and the state hit its goal of having fewer than 5% of COVID-19 tests come back positive for the first time since July.
More than 12,000 people have died in Colorado from COVID-19 since the virus’s arrival in early 2020.
The longer-term picture is less clear, though. Scientists don’t yet know how quickly immunity to the omicron variant will wane, and it’s possible other variants may evolve that are even better at evading the body’s defenses.
So far, it doesn’t appear that BA.2 will be that variant. While it appears to be more contagious than omicron, reinfections in people who’ve survived omicron appear relatively rare, and there’s no sign vaccine effectiveness has eroded any further.
Daily coronavirus data for Boulder County, reported Feb. 25, 2022
New cases: ............... 49
Total cases: ....... 61,026
Currently hospitalized: ......................................... 27
Daily discharges: ...... 4
Total deaths: ...........380
New deaths: ............... 0
New cases per 100,000 people in the past 7 days: ....................... 153.28
7-day percent positivity for diagnostic tests as of Feb. 24 : ................ 4.6%
*Some of BCPH’S data may be missing because of delays in investigations and ongoing county reporting delays.
Colorado case data
•Total cases: .. 1,311,061
•Total deaths because of COVID-19: .............. 12,439
•Total deaths among cases: ....................... 11,752
•Total hospitalizations: .................................. 59,804
•Total tested: .4,757,802
•Number of people who have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as of Feb. 23: ............................. 4,416,078
•Number of people who have been fully vaccinated as of Feb. 23: ......3,957,551
University of Colorado Boulder cases
•New positive test results: ............................. 1
•New diagnostic tests: ......................................... 53
•Total on-campus diagnostic tests completed: .................................... 4,327
•Total positive results for on-campus testing since Jan. 3: ........................... 699
*This data represents COVID-19 cases diagnosed by tests performed at CU Boulder testing sites and does not represent all cases that involve CU Boulder students, faculty and staff.
•Total active student cases: ................................9
•Heatherwood: 1 active student case
•Lafayette: 1 active dent case
•Whittier: dent case 1 active
•Angevine: 1 active student case
•Nevin Platt: 2 active student cases
•Broomfield: student case
•Monarch: 1 active dent case
1 stustu
active stu
•Peak to Peak: 1 active student case
*BVSD updated its COVID-19 dashboard on Thursday. The district’s quarantine data has been removed from its dashboard.
•Total active student cases: ..............................24
•Total active staff cases: 2
•Total student quarantines: ............................... 23
•Total staff quarantines: 1
•Alpine: 2 active student cases; 2 students quarantined
•Black Rock: 1 active student case; 1 student quarantined
•Eagle Crest: 2 students quarantined
•Erie: 2 active cases; 1 student tined
•Fall River: 1 active student case
•Grand View: student cases
•Hygiene: 1 dent case
•Legacy: quarantined
•Lyons: 2 students quarantined
•Northridge: 2 active 1 student quaran3 active stustudents student quarantined
•Prairie Ridge: 1 student quarantined
•Red Hawk: 2 active student cases; 1 staff member quarantined
•Soaring Heights PK-8: 2 active student cases; 1 student quarantined
•Thunder Valley PK-8: 1 student quarantined
•Timberline PK-8: 5 students quarantined
•Altona: 1 student quarantined
•Coal Ridge: 1 quarantined
•Mead: 1 active student case
•Trail Ridge: 1 staff member case
•Westview: 1 active student case
•Erie: cases
•Mead: 1 active student case
•Niwot: 2 active student cases
•Silver Creek: 2 active student cases; 1 student quarantined
•Skyline: dent case
2
active 1 student active
student active stu
•Main Street School: 1 student quarantined
•Multiple Schools: 1 active staff member case