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Colorado counties at Level Red on the state’s COVID-19 dial – including Denver and the entire Front Range – will see a relaxation of public health restrictions starting next week, the governor announced Wednesday night Jared Polis on social media.
The downgrading of these counties to Orange level, which will allow small public gatherings and allow restaurants to resume limited indoor meals, comes as the state confirmed this week that the new, more contagious variant of the virus detected in the Kingdom. -Uni has arrived in Colorado.
In attempting to ease restrictions, Polis highlighted improving COVID-19 conditions statewide, even as counties have been moved to the red level due to their own individual circumstances. The governor cited a sustained decline in new coronavirus infections in Colorado over the past 13 days and noted that only 73% of intensive care beds were in use statewide.
Metropolitan counties, including Denver, Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas and Jefferson, all still have two-week case incidence levels well in the red, according to state data – though their rates of hospitalization and positivity, the other key indicators, is doing better.
“This is a direct result of Coloradans stepping up and taking action to protect themselves and others,” Polis wrote of the state’s improved measures. “In light of this and based on the data, I am asking (the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment) to move the counties in red on the dial to Orange, effective Monday.”
In mid-November, state health officials moved Denver and more than a dozen other counties to Level Red, the second-highest level of restrictions and a step away from the decision to stay at home, based on case incidence and positivity rates in each county. and the numbers of hospitalizations. This required, among other measures, that restaurants stop all meals in person.
The state has since moved more counties to Level Red, to the point that half of Colorado’s counties are now at this stage on the COVID-19 dial.
Looking at the data, Colorado has seen a sustained decline for 13 days, and only 73% of intensive care beds statewide are in use.
In light of this and on the basis of the data, I ask @CDPHE to move the counties in red on the dial to Orange, effective Monday, January 4, 2021. pic.twitter.com/asiAGRHjTO
– Governor Jared Polis (@GovofCO) December 31, 2020
At Level Orange, gatherings of a maximum of 10 people from a maximum of 2 households will again be authorized; restaurants can reopen in-person meals at 25% capacity or up to 50 people; offices can increase capacity to 25% by 10%; and gyms can increase their capacity to 25%, or 25 people, 10% or 10 people.
“I am delighted that we have so far successfully avoided another lockdown,” Polis wrote. “To save lives, maybe even yours, it is more important than ever that the Coloradans do not gather outside their homes to celebrate the New Year and continue to take basic steps to protect themselves and the people. others, such as wearing masks, interacting only with their own households, and staying six feet from others in public.
New cases of COVID-19 in Colorado are still at a high level, although they have been trending downward for most of the month, with 13,566 reported last week – less than half of those in the first week of December. Although the state has not seen an increase in the number of cases after Thanksgiving, it will still be a few weeks before public health officials know if Coloradans has managed to avoid a peak over Christmas and New Years, as it takes time for people to be tested and for this needs to be reflected in state data.
Last week, Beth Carlton, associate professor of occupational and environmental health at the Colorado School of Public Health, told the Denver Post that if the current rate of decline in cases continues, Colorado could reach the level of infections seen. during the initial spring surge through mid-January – and it would take until March to return to the relatively safe levels seen over the summer.
State officials have yet to assess the spread of the new B.1.1.7 variant detected this week in Elbert County.
“The problem, of course, is that if it spreads faster and more people have it, even with the regular rates of hospitalizations, it could be overwhelming for our health systems,” Dr Eric France, Chief medical officer of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, told a news briefing earlier Wednesday.
Hospitalizations had also declined steadily in Colorado, until a slight plateau began over Christmas. Wednesday saw another drop, with 1,150 confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients in Colorado hospitals, a level last seen in early November.
Deaths also appear to have started to decline, but not until record weeks in November and early December. Colorado has recorded 4,750 virus-related deaths during the pandemic, more than half of them during the massive spike in new cases in the fall.
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