Weekly cases rising again

Changes in behavior may play role in state’s increase for second straight week

New cases of COVID-19 in Colorado rose for the second week in a row, and state public health officials think at least some of that increase in infections is due to changes in behavior.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported 1,716 new cases of the virus between June 22 and Sunday. The previous week, the state had reported 1,487 cases.

The last time Colorado’s new coronavirus cases rose two weeks in a row was in early April. New cases had declined consistently from the week ending April 26 to the one ending June 14.

The percentage of COVID-19 tests coming back positive has increased, though not by as much as the number of cases, CDPHE spokesman Ian Dickson said. That suggests some of the rise in cases is because of testing, but not all of it, he said.

“The increase in cases may be partly due to an increase in Coloradans changing their behavior, especially socializing in larger groups, sometimes without proper distancing or mask wearing,”

he said. “This should serve as a reminder that Coloradans must continue to stay 6 feet away from others, wear masks in public to minimize spread, and stay home when sick.”

Hospitalizations have stopped decreasing, but haven’t increased. That might reflect that the group testing positive lately is skewing younger than those who got sick earlier this year, Dickson said. While young people are less likely to need hospital-level care, it’s “only a matter of time” before some of them pass the virus to people who are at a higher risk of getting seriously sick, he said.

Dr. Jonathan Samet, dean of the Colorado School of Public Health, was less certain that the cases point to increased spread of the virus.

“The next two to four weeks will give us insight into what the epidemic’s doing in Colorado,” he said.

Colorado didn’t loosen restrictions on businesses all at once, so it’s less likely to see the kind of dramatic spike that states such as Florida have, Samet said. Several states — including Arizona, Texas and Florida — have reversed some phases of their reopening, such as ordering bars to close again due to surges in new cases, particularly among young people.

Though Colorado isn’t experiencing the same dramatic rise in cases, the Centennial State has seen a similar increase in young people being infected. Over the last four weeks, COVID-19 infections are up about 25% across the state — but the rate of infection for younger people jumped even higher.

Samet urged members of the public to keep following recommendations such as wearing masks, maintaining distance from others and washing their hands frequently, but said there’s no sign Colorado needs to reimpose drastic restrictions.

“I don’t think I would pull an alarm bell,” he said, adding “there should be no one with a false sense that we’re out of the woods.”

New cases are still well below their peak in late April, when Colorado reported 3,763 people had tested positive. Case counts sometimes are revised later, but typically change by only a few digits in either direction.

The state reported six coronavirus deaths last week. It appears new deaths have continued to decline, even as new cases rose, though it’s not unusual for the losses to show up in the data weeks later.

Statewide, 32,511 people have tested positive for the virus, and a total of 5,442 have been hospitalized since early March. There were 132 people with COVID-19 in Colorado’s hospitals as of Monday, down dramatically from April’s high of nearly 900 patients. The Colorado Hospital Association reports that just 284 of the 1,087 critical-care ventilators available in the state were in use as of Monday.

The virus was listed as the cause of 1,508 deaths in Colorado, and another 174 people died with it.