Coronavirus infections increasing in Colorado

A rise in COVID cases across Colorado means San Miguel County residents should take the necessary precautions to reduce the risk of respiratory illnesses as fall approaches.

Pharmacist Karyn Hemphill, who owns Sunshine Pharmacy in Telluride, said there has been a noticeable uptick in COVID-19 cases in the last month.

“We’ve seen an increase in people purchasing COVID tests and being prescribed the COVID treatment,” she said.

All viruses, including the virus that causes COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2), change over time.

These mutations affect how contagious a virus is, how well it responds to treatment and how severely it affects people.

In August, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) detected a new variant of COVID, BA.2.86, in samples from people in Denmark and Israel.

The BA.2.86 variant spread across the U.S. over the summer, leading to increases in cases and hospitalizations, according to the San Miguel County Public Health Department.

Individual COVID cases are becoming increasingly more difficult to track because states are no longer required to report numbers to the CDC and at-home test use has increased.

Officials are using other tools to track the virus, including monitoring hospitalizations and testing wastewater samples for the presence of SARS-Cov-2.

In the week ending on Sept. 2, the most recent date for which data is available, there were 18,871 people hospitalized with COVID, up 8.7% from the previous week, according to the CDC.

Of those 18,871 people hospitalized with COVID, 238 cases were in Colorado, an increase from the 191 cases reported the previous week.

State, tribal, local and territorial health departments participating in the National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) submit testing data to the CDC.

How often sites collect wastewater samples and how frequently that data is reported to the CDC varies by health department.

San Miguel County is a participant in NWSS and according to data provided by the CDC, SARS-Cov-2 levels at the wastewater treatment plant outside Telluride are higher than past levels.

The health department encourages people to test for COVID if they feel ill. Experts believe at-home COVID tests on the market should pick up all of the variants in circulation.

Free COVID tests are available to the public through the health department and tests can also be purchased at most pharmacies, including Sunshine Pharmacy.

Three vaccines will be available later this year: flu, COVID and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV).

“While we are waiting on some key pieces of information, we are excited to make these vaccines available in the fall,” said San Miguel County Public Health Director Grace Franklin.

An updated COVID vaccine is expected to be released by late September.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is meeting on Sept. 12 to determine who is eligible for the vaccine and why.

Because COVID vaccines are now privatized, clinics are responsible for purchasing them directly.

The health department expects to see a continued rise in COVID cases as winter approaches and recommends people wait for the new vaccine because it will be more effective against currently circulating variants.

The exception to waiting is if it’s someone’s first vaccine or they have extensive travel plans or are immunocompromised.

For those testing positive for COVID, protocol is largely the same as it has been for the past few years, according to the health department.

People testing positive should isolate for at least five days, but ideally 10 days or until they test negative. After five days of isolation, people should wear a mask in public for 10 days.

“There will be plenty of opportunities to get vaccinated with clinic schedules to be announced,” Franklin said. “We look forward to keeping county residents and visitors as healthy as possible in the coming winter months.”