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Our local journalists cover Aspen, the Roaring Fork Valley, and the upper Colorado River basin for you, offering in-depth reporting on COVID-19, environment, water, and more. Receive original Aspen Journalism reporting every Friday in your inbox.
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Aspen Journalism is pulling together data from state and county websites, as well as from other news outlets. This webpage is updated every weekday after 4 p.m.
If you have a tip you want to share, any suggestions, or you just want to chat, you can email the reporter.
What’s noteworthy in today’s COVID-19 data?
Garfield County reported 17 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, Eagle County added five cases, while Pitkin County reported four new cases.
Pitkin County’s case counts dropped to 2,545 on Friday to 2,453 on Monday on the county’s dashboard. The county added four cases on Wednesday. More information is needed from the county about this drop in cases. According to CDPHE, the county’s case counts reached 2,667 on July 28.
Seven-day positivity rate in Pitkin County reached 6.4% on Wednesday, the highest since April. Fifty-five breakthrough cases (cases among fully vaccinated people) have been reported since April, according to the county’s dashboard, which represents 0.3% of the fully vaccinated population in Pitkin County. Eleven cases of the Delta variant have been reported in the county.
“COVID-19 became the third leading cause of death in the U.S. The average U.S. life expectancy dropped to the lowest level in 18 years (77.3 years),” a press release from Garfield County Public Health said. “The Hispanic/Latino population had the sharpest drop, with three years decreased life expectancy, followed by non-Hispanic Black Americans at 2.9, and non-Hispanic White Americans at 1.2 years.”
Among the three counties, Garfield County has the lowest vaccination rate, with 62.7% of county residents who received at least one dose, while 83% of Eagle County residents and 86.6% of Pitkin County residents have received at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine.
According to Garfield County Public Health, 12 deaths have occurred due to COVID-19 since the first week in May. “COVID remains a leading cause of death in the county for 2021,” the press release said.
The county said that last week Garfield County had 15 breakthrough cases, which is 21% of the total cases for the week. Out of the 31,000 people vaccinated, there have been 103 breakthrough cases, which represents 0.3% of the county’s vaccinated population.
The CDC changed its guidance on July 27 about face covering for fully vaccinated people. The CDC recommends that they should wear a mask indoors in public in substantial and high transmission areas to limit the spread of the Delta variant. As of July 28, Eagle County is an area with substantial transmission level of COVID-19, while Garfield and Pitkin counties both have a high transmission level.
There have been more than 600 new confirmed cases in Colorado since July 27. Confirmed cases statewide now exceed 572,000.
There are now about 34.6 million cases and more than 609,000 deaths in the country, according to the CDC.
There are possible discrepancies in the data published by the counties and the state as they don’t necessarily use the same data collection techniques. Also, CDPHE and local public health departments may process and report COVID-19 data on a different day, resulting in a lag in the data.
How many vaccines do we have?
More than 3.3 million people have received at least their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Colorado so far, and approximately 3 million people have received their two doses.
According to CDPHE data, about 140,000 vaccine doses have been administered in Eagle, Garfield and Pitkin counties.
You can visit Eagle County Public Health’s webpage on information about the vaccines. Appointments are required and can be scheduled since Monday, Jan. 4 at 8 a.m. online at www.eaglecountycovid.org or by phone at 970-328-9750.
Garfield County
Residents need to call 970-384-7632 for Valley View Hospital, or 970-625-1100 for Grand River Health. You can visit the county’s vaccine portal for more information.
How many tests are being done in Eagle, Pitkin and Garfield counties?
How many visitors are testing positive in Pitkin County?
There have been 605 OOJ cases since July 10, 2020, according to the county’s dashboard.
Where are the COVID-19 cases in Colorado?
The state’s northwest region, which includes Pitkin, Eagle and Garfield counties, was classified on July 28 as “Elevated incidence growth.” This means that “Incidence is high and increasing,” according to CDPHE.
How many people are in the hospital?
On July 28, CDPHE reported 297 patients currently hospitalized for COVID-19 in Colorado. There have been more than 32,000 people who have been hospitalized for COVID-19 across the state since March 2020.
How many people have died from COVID-19?
On July 24, one person died from COVID-19, according to CDPHE. There have been more than 7,000 fatalities due to COVID-19 since March 2020.
Since March, four Pitkin County, 23 Eagle County and 51 Garfield County residents died from COVID-19.
