State public health officials remain quiet about outbreaks at 5 residential care facilities.

Colorado public health officials have revealed they know of at least five “outbreaks” of the new coronavirus inside residential and other non-hospital health care facilities in the state and have notified people who may have been exposed.

But for two days officials have declined to give details, such as how many people may have been exposed or where the facilities are located, despite rising concerns about clusters that can accelerate person-to-person spread of the virus.

These facilities in Colorado rank among at least 146 nursing homes nationwide where federal authorities on Monday said coronavirus cases are confirmed. Roughly 15,000 nursing homes around the nation house 1.3 million people.

It was at one of these facilities, in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland, where an outbreak of the virus led to conditions that federal authorities were calling a ground zero for the spread of the coronavirus in the United States. At least 35 deaths now have been linked to the Life Care Center nursing facility in Kirkland. Federal inspectors have been looking into what happened.

In Colorado, state health officials “are not publicly identifying the facilities at this time because the investigations are ongoing,” Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment spokesman Ian Dickson said. “… We have notified all who may have been exposed and will continue to provide information as it is necessary to protect public health and slow and limit the spread of COVID-19.”

Federal authorities have not provided a state-by-state breakdown for the 146 facilities around the nation with infected residents. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, which oversees facilities, on Monday referred queries to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC officials did not respond to queries from The Denver Post.

“Unless you are asked to go into a nursing home, don’t,” CMS administrator Seema Verma, a member of President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force, said Monday in a conference call with reporters.

For those with relatives inside facilities, this goes against “every natural impulse,” Verma said. But, she said, “we can spare no effort in the protection of these vulnerable Americans.”

Colorado health officials have posted a notice since Sunday on their virus-tracking tally — now 720 cases with 72 hospitalizations in 31 counties, seven deaths, and 6,224 tests done — that they’ve documented five person-to-person outbreaks “at residential and non-hospital health care facilities.”

Along Colorado’s highly populated Front Range, county health officials previously identified two facilities that may be included in the five. El Paso County health officials reported at least six COVID19 cases in the Laurel Manor Care Center, a senior living center in Colorado Springs. A resident and a staffer at North Shore Health and Rehab Facility in Loveland have tested positive.

Federal authorities said they are trying to shift from their initial focus on what happened at Kirkland, where a team of a dozen inspectors has been investigating, toward implementation of better protective measures at facilities nationwide. For years, preventing infections at care facilities has been a challenge. A federal task force last year began efforts to increase safety and reforms designed to help deal with pandemic threats.

On March 4, CMS officials issued guidance to facilities nationwide that they screen all visitors to prevent the spread of the virus. On March 14, the agency issued guidance that facilities restrict access and allow only essential staff.

In Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis has issued his own order restricting visitors at skilled nursing facilities, assisted living residences and intermediate care facilities through April 19.