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COVID kills second resident this month as case numbers begin to trend downward

Grand County COVID-19 Reporting Dashboard/Courtesy graphic

A second resident has died due to COVID-19 this month in Grand County.

This marks the 16th death due to the virus since the pandemic began in March 2020. In 2021, 13 residents died because of COVID.

An additional five residents have died with COVID, meaning they had COVID around the time of their death but it was not considered a contributing factor.



As of Tuesday, seven residents were hospitalized due to COVID-19.

During Grand County Public Health Director Abbie Baker’s Tuesday update to commissioners, she said the county has seen a decline in case numbers over the past week, though the county’s case rate is still considered severe.



She explained that last month, Grand County was seeing seven or eight COVID cases a day, while earlier this month it was more like 40-43 cases per day. This week, the county is averaging about 23 per day.

There have been 165 new COVID cases in the last week, equal to a case rate of 1,059 per 100,000 people. Of those cases in the last week, 19.4% were in children under 18.

Baker said there are currently five COVID-19 outbreaks in the county. Four of those have been reported on the state website, at Granby Elementary School, Middle Park High School, East Grand Middle School and West Grand K-8. Outbreak reporting by the state is updated weekly.

Baker added that 7.5% of Grand County residents have had COVID-19 in the last 90 days.

Statewide, 10% of ICU beds are available, which is a slight improvement over recent months. This reflects trends in the Foothills RETAC region Grand County is a part of, with 10% or 29 ICU beds available.

Currently, 66% of the 1,581 people hospitalized with COVID statewide are unvaccinated. This ratio of unvaccinated patients versus vaccinated patients continues to trend downward.

For comparison of hospitalization rates, as of Jan. 15, 324 people statewide were hospitalized due to the flu. In December, 2.94 in 100,000 people were hospitalized due to the flu versus 50 per 100,000 due to COVID-19.

 

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