State reveals 2 more deaths
More than 900 people have now tested positive and 11 have died in Colorado
Colorado public health officials on Tuesday announced two additional deaths related to the novel coronavirus as positive cases surged by nearly 200 to a total of 912 across the state.
The deaths — in which state officials did not provide details as to location or age — mark the 10th and 11th in Colorado related to COVID-19, the highly infectious respiratory illness caused the virus.
The 912 cases included 192 new people who tested positive for the virus, while 84 people have been hospitalized. Officials now say there are seven outbreaks at residential and non-hospital health care facilities, though they still are not providing any details.
Thirty-five Colorado counties have at least one confirmed case, as health officials have brought testing to more remote parts of the state.
Of the 11 deaths, at least three have come from El Paso County. Officials there have sounded the alarm over a bridge tournament earlier this month that has been connected to at least two of those fatalities.
Teller County health officials clarified Tuesday that a man in his 80s who died of the novel coronavirus Monday was a resident of their county and not El Paso County, as originally had been announced.
The new cases came as Denver residents on Tuesday night began a new life under stay-at-home orders from the city. The order, in effect until at least April 10, means nonessential businesses will be shuttered, while people will be allowed to travel outside only for necessary needs such as picking up food and medicine, taking care of a family member or exercising.
Other municipalities such as Boulder have followed suit, while officials with the Tri County Health Department — which encompasses Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties — is preparing a stay-athome order.
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman, whose city is in the Tri-County network, said Tuesday night on Twitter that he expects the upcoming order to be “similar” to Denver’s, “but not identical.” He said he expects the order to go in effect at 8 a.m. Thursday and it will likely run to April 17.
Gov. Jared Polis has thus far resisted calls for a statewide stay-at-home order, though he has given his support to local jurisdictions that choose to do so.
State health officials have said necessary hospital resources are in short supply. The state received supplies such as surgical masks and gowns Monday from the federal government’s emergency national stockpile — but those were expected to only last a day. The state is expecting another shipment from the national stockpile later this week, said Mike Willis, the state’s director of the Office of Emergency Management, although he did not say how much would be included.
Noel Ginsburg, chairman of the state’s manufacturing and sourcing task force, also told The Denver Post this week that a shipment of 2 million medical masks is expected to arrive in Denver this weekend.
As people across the country wonder when life will return to normal, President Donald Trump on Tuesday gave Easter as a goal for rebooting the American economy.
While the president’s declarations would impact Colorado, Polis still would have considerable say in what he chooses to reopen, Willis said in a conference call with reporters.