Transmission considered severe across county

Grand County has reported a 15th resident death due to COVID-19 as cases continue to spike in the county.

In a Tuesday update to Grand County commissioners, Grand County Public Health Director Abbie Baker said there have been 324 resident cases of COVID-19 in the last week, equal to a case rate of 2,061 people per 100,000. The county is averaging 46 new COVID-19 cases a day.

“Grand County is in an extreme COVID transmission situation right now,” Baker said.

There are currently five hospitalizations due to COVID, with three residents hospitalized in the last two weeks.

“A lot of what we were worried about at the beginning of the pandemic is happening now,” Baker said, noting the ongoing closures of local businesses due to staffing shortages and illness.

Along with the 15th death due to COVID-19, the county has reported another death with COVID-19. This is the fifth county-reported death where the deceased tested positive for COVID-19 within 30 days of their death but COVID was not considered a contributing factor.

Baker added that the county will be reporting six active COVID-19 outbreaks on Wednesday, most of those related to school district buildings.

She said that the ongoing outbreak at the FedEx in Kremmling is expected to resolve in the next week or two, meaning enough time has passed since infection for the outbreak to no longer be considered active.

As for hospitalizations, eight ICU beds are available in the Foothills RETAC region that Grand County is a part of, down from 23 last week. Statewide, 70% of COVID hospitalizations are in unvaccinated individuals. The average hospital stay due to COVID is now eight days, compared to an average of 10 during the Delta variant spike.

While there are currently 1,655 confirmed COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Colorado right now, as of Jan. 8, 294 people were hospitalized due to flu. The hospitalization rate for flu is less than three people per 100,000 while the COVID hospitalization rate was 50 per 100,000 in December.