Colorado’s COVID-19 hospitalizations are rising again, but it’s not clear if they’ll stay at roughly this level or continue to increase as the weather gets colder.
Hospitalizations have been slowly increasing since early August, but jumped more noticeably in the last two weeks, from 131 people hospitalized for the virus in Colorado on Sept. 19 to 195 on Monday — the highest total since mid-March.
The number of people admitted to hospitals for the virus has held relatively steady, though, averaging about 40 per day, said Beth Carlton, associate professor of environmental and occupational health at the Colorado School of Public Health. That’s higher than over the summer, but nowhere close to the peaks set in 2020 and 2021, when hundreds of people were hospitalized each day, she said.
It’s possible the number of severe COVID-19 cases will continue to hover around this level through early December, which was when Colorado saw peaks in previous years, Carlton said. Another possibility is that hospitalizations will continue to increase somewhat, she said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released projections earlier this week that suggested the overall number of people becoming severely ill with respiratory diseases will be similar to last year, Carlton said. It may look different, however, because last year a disproportionate number of children became ill with respiratory syncytial virus — an outcome that could largely be avoided if the youngest children get a new antibody drug to prevent RSV, she said.
It’s important for everyone to get their flu and COVID-19 shots, ideally before Halloween, to avoid spreading respiratory viruses over the holidays, Carlton said. RSV shots are available for people over 60, infants and pregnant women, who can pass protection on to their babies for the first months after birth, though different specific products are recommended for those groups.
Masks are also an effective option for high-risk people and those who just don’t want to get sick, she said.
“We have three vaccines against three nasty viruses,” she said.
While vaccines don’t prevent all illnesses, they do significantly reduce the odds that a bout with flu, RSV or COVID-19 will be severe.
While COVID-19 is nowhere near the threat it was at the beginning of the pandemic, it’s still deadlier than flu, RSV and other viruses that take off in the fall and winter. An estimated 100,000 people in the United States died of COVID-19 between January and early September, with more deaths expected this winter. If flu had killed that many people in a year, it would have been one of the worst seasons in recent memory.
People don’t need to be afraid of COVID-19 like they were a few years ago, but also shouldn’t forget it entirely, Carlton said.
“This is not 2019. We have another respiratory virus in the mix,” she said. “We need enough concern about COVID to take it seriously.”