COVID cases are climbing in Colorado
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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
COVID-19 cases are trending up in Colorado and nationwide.
The big picture: A summer uptick isn't unusual. But the latest surge is colliding with back-to-school season, when the virus could spread even more.
- The surge comes after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unilaterally changed federal COVID vaccine recommendations, causing confusion over who should get the shots.
Driving the news: Wastewater data for the week ending Aug. 2 shows the Western U.S. leading the nation in COVID levels, with peaks in Colorado, Alaska, California, Nevada and Utah, per the CDC.
- In Colorado, COVID emergency department visits and positive tests are rising, state health department spokesperson Hope Shuler tells Axios Denver.
- CDC data shows the state's positivity rate sits at 8% — lower than the 12% seen in New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana — but still trending upward. Hospitalizations haven't spiked yet.
What they're saying: "We know that wastewater results and test positivity can be early indicators of increasing COVID-19 illness in a community," Shuler warns.
- "As people move indoors and are closer to each other," she notes, "it is possible we will see more illness."
Zoom in: Multiple COVID variants are at play. N.B.1.8.1 — nicknamed "Nimbus" and notorious for its "razor blade throat" — remains dominant.
- The XFG "Stratus" variant, which may better evade immunity, is also driving new cases.
The bottom line: Despite the federal shake-up, Colorado health officials say vaccination "remains the safest, most effective, and easiest way" to prevent severe illness, long COVID, hospitalization and death.