DENVER — Colorado's COVID-19 metrics continue to decline sharply from the peak of the omicron variant, but metrics remain high, health officials said during an update on the state's pandemic response on Thursday.
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) State Epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy said the seven-day moving average of newly reported cases just dipped below 5,000 for the first time since early January.
Herlihy added the horizontal line in the graphic below to show how the current case rate compares to the previous high last winter, showing how case rates remain extremely high despite the recent decline.
"Case rates now are still the highest we've seen since the beginning of the pandemic," she said. "Case rates certainly making progress, continuing to decrease in the state and we're feeling optimistic about the level of decrease we're seeing, but still lots of COVID out there being transmitted."
The seven-day average positivity rate just below 16% is the lowest its been since the omicron spike began, Herlihy said. However, it still remains at a level that hasn't been recorded since the beginning months of the pandemic, she said.
"Lots of disease transmission still occurring in our community," Herlihy said. "Lots of reasons to continue to be cautious, wear masks, get vaccinated certainly and take all of the preventative strategies that you've been using throughout the pandemic seriously, for the next few weeks at least."
Herlihy also shared the latest data on the omicron subvariant, BA.2, saying it appears to be consistently outcompeting the original omicron variant, BA.1.
However, there is currently no evidence suggesting vaccines are less effective against BA.2 compared to BA.1.
So far, the state has identified three cases of the variant, and BA.2 has been added to the COVID-19 wastewater monitoring dashboard. Currently, BA.2 has only been detected in Boulder County wastewater.
Herlihy said that BA.2 has caused an increase in COVID cases in some places where it has taken over, such as the United Kingdom and Denmark.
However, the subvariant is not as significant a threat as a completely new COVID variant would be, and Herlihy said it's unclear at this point how widespread transmission would impact Colorado.
> Watch the full update in the video below:
There are currently 1,162 patients hospitalized who have tested positive for COVID as of Thursday, which is the lowest total since October.
COVID-19 Incident Commander Scott Bookman echoed Herlihy's cautious optimism as hospitalizations are also sharply declining, while seven-day moving average of available hospital beds reached its highest level since November and is steadily rising.
However, Bookman said made sure to point out the extended period of time heath care workers have been dealing with the latest spike, which began roughly four months.
"It's important to look at the right side of that graph and see for how long our hospitals have been dealing with this incredible surge of patients," he said. "I think it's important to acknowledge how hard our health care workers and first responders on the front line have been working, the stress they have been under, the impact that these hospitalizations have had on them."
As of Thursday, more than 3.7 million free KN-95 and surgical masks have been provided to more than 430 distribution locations including 181 libraries, 102 fire departments and 148 other community locations.
Bookman urged Coloradans to continue wearing masks indoors, getting tested when not feeling well, staying home when ill and getting vaccinated and boosted if eligible.
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