x
Breaking News
More () »

Eagle County sees a rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations

The delta variant, visitors and other impacts are leading to a rise in local breakthrough COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and spread.

EAGLE COUNTY, Colo. — Over the weekend, Eagle County experienced a significant increase in the number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19. With seven people currently hospitalized, this is the highest level of hospitalization the county has seen since last December, said Heath Harmon, the director of Eagle County Public Health and the Environment.

The rise in hospitalizations comes as the county sees a significant increase in the prominence of the COVID-19 delta variant.

“When we see high rates of spread in the community, we’re going to see a whole host of other impacts on our community, whether that’s higher hospitalization rates, impacts within our schools, our childcare centers or impacts within our workplace environments where we have more people that are absent because of illness or because of an exposure,” Harmon said.

In Eagle County, the beginning of this summer was met with the withdrawal of public health orders mandating masks and implementing capacity restrictions. However, as summer went on, the delta variant spread, causing incidence rates, hospitalizations and breakthrough cases all to rise.

The “highly infectious” nature of the delta variant is the “primary contributor” to these increases, Harmon said. Currently, the disease incidence rate is at about 255 cases per 100,000. That’s a stark contrast to this same time last summer — when all restrictions were in place — when the county’s incidence rate was around 35 cases per 100,000.

Read the full article in the Vail Daily.

> Watch video above: Delta variant causing majority of COVID-19 cases in Colorado

RELATED: Eagle County begins offering third vaccine doses to the immunocompromised

RELATED: Yes, delta variant symptoms are slightly different than original COVID-19 strain symptoms

SUGGESTED VIDEOS: COVID-19 Vaccine  

   

 

Before You Leave, Check This Out