Hospitalizations are approaching record highs with COVID-19 surged across Colorado.Colorado Springs News

Colorado is expected to reach a record number of COVID-19 hospitalizations within the next few days, state health officials said Wednesday, “pandemics are skyrocketing across Colorado.” I warned.

“The surge in hospitalizations is putting pressure on the hospital system,” Rachel Harley, an epidemiologist at the State Health Department, said at a virtual press conference.

As of Wednesday, 83% of ICU beds and 82% of emergency beds in the state were in use, according to state data. Nearly 40% of adult critical care ventilators are used.

On Wednesday, the Colorado Hospital Association announced that it had set up a complex hospital transfer center in anticipation of a surge in cases. According to a news release from the group, the center will be activated if the number of patients requiring transfer exceeds the local capacity.

The expected hospital capacity burden will occur as the number of cases per week routinely exceeds 2,000 per day and the proportion of people tested approaches 10%. This is twice the limit recommended by the World Health Organization to reopen the community.

According to Herlihy, this percentage has more than doubled in the past week and continues to grow daily.

The average Colorado, which sometimes carries the deadly virus, now spreads it to 1.66 other people, said John Samet, Colorado’s Dean of Public Health.

Infection control is declining across all age groups, he said, adding that the increase in hospitalization is occurring more rapidly than the state predicted.

“As the epidemic spreads, we are rapidly crossing these orbits,” he said. “The curve is skyrocketing, perhaps even more than we estimated at the beginning of the week.”

If conditions do not change, the state said it could exceed the number of ICU beds in late December and could reach this milestone in mid-December if infections increase due to holiday gatherings. He added that there is.

One thing to watch out for in controlling the spread of the virus is that people are most contagious before symptoms appear, said Eric France, chief health officer at the State Department of Health.

“You may feel good today, but you are destined to feel sick tomorrow,” he said. “Today, you are walking around spreading the virus.

“This is our challenge. How can we prevent the virus from spreading?”

Therefore, it is very important to minimize social contact and maximize social distance, regardless of risk or condition. It is impossible to determine who the gait infectious disease is without testing.

“Each Colorado needs to play its own role personally, taking precautions as in April,” he added.

France currently states that at least 18 counties are subject to stay-at-home orders based on disease incidence, and these counties will work with states in the coming days to develop plans to curb the spread of the disease. He added that he plans to do so.

As of Wednesday, El Paso County had 470 viruses per 100,000 people in two weeks, and Denver County had 620 cases per 100,000 people, exceeding the 350 state threshold.

El Paso County is at Safe at Home Level 2, or in the middle of yellow, and Denver is at Safe at Home Level 3, or orange. This is the last stop before the stay-at-home order.

The State Department of Health announced Wednesday that Boulder County will join Denver in the Orange Zone due to the rapid spread of the virus in the county. According to a news release sent Wednesday by the Boulder County Public Health Service, the incidence per 100,000 inhabitants over the past two weeks was 312.

France said it expects local leaders in the most affected counties to begin considering curfew and other measures to avoid blockades, as the city of Pueblo did last week. It was.

Control of the virus will be a difficult battle, officials said, as COVID fatigue subsides, holidays approach, and potentially, given the previous cold weather, COVID as well as influenza. A common cold that -19 may have a seasonal element.

“Perhaps the virus prefers cold,” Samet said. “That’s something we don’t understand, but some (viruses) do.”