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COVID-19 cases are back to levels not seen since early April, and positivity rates are at levels not seen since previous outbreaks of the virus locally in February.
As of June, 87.5% of people 12 and older who tested positive for COVID-19 were not vaccinated, according to Routt County Public Health.
“As is the case across the United States, right now Routt County is experiencing an unvaccinated pandemic,” County epidemiologist Nicole Harty said.
There have been 77 new cases of the virus in the past two weeks, putting the county within the precautionary measures used in its Road to Recovery framework designed this spring. The positivity rate has once again exceeded 5%, and health officials estimate that around 70% of current local cases involve the most infectious delta variant.
There has been no local public health order in place since May, and the Routt County Commissioners Council has not discussed adding a new Monday. Still, Routt County Public Health Director Roberta Smith stressed that unvaccinated people should always wear a mask indoors.
“Unvaccinated people should continue to wear masks indoors, and that includes children ages 2 and older,” Smith said, referring to current masking guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For Routt County, that means between 30% and 40% of people in indoor public spaces should always wear a mask, Smith said.
While Routt County remains one of the state’s top counties in terms of vaccinations, Smith said rates have been relatively stagnant since June. The parts of the county with the lowest rates are where most new cases originate.
For example, in West Routt, the vaccination rate is around 34%, just over half the rate for the county as a whole. In the past two weeks, the incidence of cases in West Routt has been 1.5 times higher than in the rest of the county, Harty said.
Community spread is the biggest source of cases of the virus over the past two weeks, meaning public health officials have not been able to clearly identify the source of a case. While there are cases of unvaccinated people infected at large gatherings, Harty said the recent spike was not due to holiday events like the July 4 parade.
“Our recent increase in cases can be attributed to the more transmissible delta variant and the relaxation of mitigation measures among unvaccinated community members,” Harty said.
Harty said many of the recent cases have involved people who have attended smaller gatherings or stayed with someone for a few days where there is a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
Cases in children in particular are on the rise, Harty said, especially among those who are not yet eligible for vaccines. More than 15% of cases in the past two weeks involved a child 9 years of age or younger.
Less than a quarter of children aged 10 to 14 are vaccinated. Harty said they would expect that number to be closer to 50%. Children 12 years of age and older are not permitted to receive the Pfizer vaccine.
Although the CDC recommends that masks be worn for all unvaccinated people over the age of 2, some local child care providers do not require masks for children, Smith said.
“The kids should be masked inside, and in the absence of our public health order, when we’ve relied on guidelines, I don’t think that’s happening,” Smith said.
Smith said she expects updated guidance from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment later this week regarding back to school, and she plans to discuss them with local districts during the week. next.
The recent increase in the positivity rate has also prompted Harty to want more people to get tested for the virus, even though they believe their symptoms could be attributed to allergies or smoke from wildfires.
“Please don’t dismiss your COVID symptoms,” Harty said. “Particularly if you are not vaccinated, COVID could be a very likely reason. “
Brooke Maxwell, the county public health nurse, said she had worked with local providers to assess how many more tests they could perform, and that they were also trying to tap into additional testing resources from the ‘State.
There have been a groundbreaking handful of cases in the county, meaning one case of the virus in a person who was fully vaccinated and who had not tested positive for the virus in the past 45 days. About 12.5% of cases in June involved a person vaccinated.
Still, officials say breakthrough cases are to be expected, as none of the vaccines are 100% effective, and the low number shows how effective the vaccines are at preventing the virus.
“The percentage of people vaccinated is much higher than the percentage of cases among people vaccinated,” said epidemiologist Fritha Morrison. “This shows that vaccines help prevent cases in people who are vaccinated. “
Smith praised Casey’s Pond for making the vaccine mandatory among employees last week and encouraged more employers to do the same. Maxwell said the Department of Health is keen to work with employers, like Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp., to ensure employees have the opportunity to get vaccinated.
“We can certainly help them in terms of some of the obstacles they think they might have in terms of implementing such a program,” Smith said.
To reach Dylan Anderson, call 970-871-4247 or email [email protected].
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