COVID-19 deaths climb to 10 in Grand County
COVID-19 deaths in Grand County have reached double digits with three more in the last seven days.
Ten residents have now died due to COVID-19 complications. According to Grand County Public Health Director Abbie Baker, the deaths occurred in predominantly unvaccinated individuals.
The county has seen an additional five deaths with COVID since the pandemic began, meaning the individuals had COVID when they died but the virus was not determined to be the cause of death.
Two residents are currently hospitalized due to COVID-19, with one person vaccinated and the other unvaccinated. This is down from six hospitalizations last week, but Baker said two of last week’s COVID-19 deaths were hospitalized cases.
There have been 41 local COVID-19 cases in the last seven days, equal to a case rate of 260 people per 100,000. This is considered a high case rate with the county averaging six new cases a day. Nearly a quarter of COVID cases over the last week have been among children under 18.
Grand County is part of the Foothills RETAC region for sharing hospital beds. There has been a significant decrease in bed availability since last week, with only 16 ICU beds currently available. That means 6% of ICU beds are open, which is down from 13% last week.
As for acute care beds, only 8% are available, equal to 87 beds. This is down from the 107 beds available last week.
Grand County Emergency Medical Services Chief Robert Good gave an update to commissioners on how hospital transfers related to COVID-19 are impacting operations. Good said EMS is seeing an 8% increase in patient transfers compared to normal.
Because of the hospital capacity issues, EMS transfers also have to travel farther distances, Good added. This keeps local ambulances out of the district for longer and has led to a challenge with oxygen consumption. Good said EMS has had to “get creative” to ensure transferred patients had enough oxygen for these extended journeys.
Approximately 64% of eligible residents in Grand County have been fully vaccinated. Grand County Public Health and local providers continue to offer free COVID-19 vaccinations to the general population.
Go to http://www.co.grand.co.us/vaccine to see local vaccine offerings.
Support Local Journalism
Support Local Journalism
The Sky-Hi News strives to deliver powerful stories that spark emotion and focus on the place we live.
Over the past year, contributions from readers like you helped to fund some of our most important reporting, including coverage of the East Troublesome Fire.
If you value local journalism, consider making a contribution to our newsroom in support of the work we do.