County reports 79 new virus cases

Colorado to keep masks on, Gov. Polis says

Despite some states jump to cur tail mask mandates this month, Gov. Jared Polis said he won’t follow suit until exper ts say

safe enough for Coloradans to do so.

In a meeting with the Daily Camera on Wednesday, Polis was joined by state officials who provided an update on the pandemic and reflected on the past year. Friday will of ficially mark the one year milestone since the virus was first detected in Colorado, according to the Denver Post. It was last year on March 14 when Boulder County detected its first case.

Also on Wednesday, Boulder County reported 79 new coronavirus cases, bringing the county’s total cases to 19,082. The death toll remained at 247, according to Boulder County Public Health data. There were 19 people in Boulder County hospitals because of COVID-19 as of Wednesday — a slight drop from the 21 people in the hospital reported on Monday and Tuesit’s day. There have been 579 residents hospitalized because of the virus to date.

Colorado to keep masks on

While there’s hope that the pandemic’s end is in sight, it’s too early to eliminate the precautions put in place to limit the spread of the virus. Continuing to wear a mask is part of those precautions, Polis said.

Texas and Mississippi of ficials announced this week that state mask mandates would be rescinded early this month. When asked what his thoughts were about move, Polis said officials will be tracking the results in the weeks to come.

“Let’s hope for the best. Let’s hope they have enough resistance to make it work,” Polis said. “I’m not convinced of that, nor are epidemiologists or scientists based on what we know. We

would love, love to be proven wrong and if rates didn’t go up there … we would love to get rid of our mask order sooner, rather than later, but were not about to experiment on Coloradans.”

Statewide, the Colorado Depar tment of Public Health and Environment reported that there were 431,670 cases. Among the cases, there have been 5,970 people who have died, and of those deaths, 5,954 were due to COVID19. There have been 23,735 people hospitalized. Of Colorado’s more than 5.7 million population, there have been 2,590,863 people tested.

Hope for life returning to normal

As national media reports that the U.S. could start returning to what life was like before the pandemic this summer, Polis said that’s what he sees ahead for the state, too.

“President (Joe) Biden announced that anyone who wants the vaccine should be able to receive it in May,” Polis said. “We agree based on the numbers that we see, which essentially means that by Memorial Day, early June we should be ver y close to back to normal.”

Jill Hunsaker Ryan, executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, reported that 79.6% of Colorado educators have been vaccinated. State of ficials reiterated that 70.7% of people 70 and older have been vaccinated.

Angela Simental, Boulder County Public Health acting communications manager, said in an email that Boulder County doesn’t yet meet the requirements to drop to the less restrictive Level Blue.

“Our current incidence is 100.9 per 100,000, so we will remain in Yellow in the state’s dial,” Simental wrote.

To reach Level Blue, a county must have a sevenday average of 15-100 cases per 100,000 people, the state’s determinants show. Earlier this week, county of ficials said that Boulder County must also remain in blue metric categories for a week on the state’s COVID dial, which hasn’t yet been accomplished. Those categories consist of one-week incidences, seven-day average test positivity and 10 days of declining or stable hospitalizations.

Under Level Blue, group spor ts and camps can extend from 25 people per activity to a 50-person capacity and last call would change from 11 p.m. to midnight.

Businesses that applied for and were approved by the state’s 5-Star Cer tification program are permitted to operate at a less restrictive level, however.

Active school cases in Boulder County

The University of Colorado Boulder reported that there were five positive test results found during Tuesday testing, according to the university dashboard. There were also 129 diagnostic tests and 2,051 monitoring tests completed. Six on-campus isolation spaces were in use, which is 1% of the university’s isolation reser ve. Since Jan. 4, there have been 339 positive test results; 5,776 diagnostic and 39,945 monitoring tests taken.

In the Boulder Valley School District there were 31 active cases reported, according to the district’s online dashboard. There are 356 quarantines reported among 311 students and 45 staf f.

The St. Vrain Valley School District reported 46 active cases reported among 35 students and 11 staf f, the district’s dashboard showed. Throughout the school year, there have been 884 cumulative cases among 646 students and 238 staf f.