Coronavirus Is Roaring Back In Colorado With Record-High Cases - Colorado Public Radio

Then came Friday, Saturday and Sunday, when the state recorded 1,604, 1,594 and 2,102 cases on consecutive days.

Those also coincided with three of the busiest testing days in the state since the start of the pandemic in March, with a record 31,847 tests reported administered on Sunday.

The growth in testing was almost bound to lead to a growth in cases uncovered, but the percentage of tests coming back positive, a reliable gauge of the direction the pandemic is taking, is also growing, just not as dramatically.

The growth in cases is being felt throughout the state.

Hospitalizations for patients with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 are also growing, though not yet anywhere near the peak hospitalization numbers recorded at the height of the pandemic in Colorado.

The Colorado Hospital Association’s Julie Lonborg said hospitals are worried that if the ICU beds continue to fill, there won’t be enough specially-trained staff to work in them.

But Lonborg said there are reasons to be optimistic about how well hospitals and doctors can handle another spike. For one, they know more about how to treat the virus and now ventilate far fewer patients.

Lonborg said in the spring, hospitals got better at figuring out how to reconfigure and expand other hospital units if they needed more ICU space.

Some hospitals created ICU units exclusively for COVID-19 patients and used other units of the hospital for other patients who need critical care. .

Lonborg said the hospitals also shifted patients to other hospitals if necessary.

As for deaths from COVID-19, the state remains far from the darkest days of the pandemic in April where there were more than 30 COVID deaths a day

While the state hasn’t recorded double-digit deaths since July, there have been 9 deaths recorded on two days in October, and the increasing hospitalizations could be an ominous sign that a growth in the number of deaths will follow