New outbreaks of COVID-19 identified by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment fell by 22.4 percent over the past week, with dips of similar or even greater size in almost every category tracked by the state during the pandemic. But there was one demographic group that defied the decline: kids.
Outbreaks associated with children make up well over a third of the latest batch, with most of the spread taking place at K-12 schools, where infections of students, the majority of whom have not been vaccinated, are much more common than those involving staffers.
The CDPHE considers an entity an outbreak after two or more COVID-19 cases among residents, staffers or other people connected to a specific location are confirmed within a fourteen-day period, or two or more cases of respiratory illness with an onset of symptoms within a fourteen-day period are paired with at least one additional COVID-19 diagnosis. The vast majority of businesses and facilities identified as ou
Last week s Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment update on outbreaks of COVID-19 showed a significant drop in newly identified sites, suggesting that the worst might finally be over for retail establishments, health-care centers and other facilities. But no: The latest weekly CDPHE outbreak number is almost double that from just seven days earlier. Moreover, one of the new entries, the Apple Store at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center, demonstrates how difficult it is for even the most diligent operations to keep the novel coronavirus at bay indefinitely.
In a November post about COVID-19 safety at malls in Level Red zones, we singled out the Cherry Creek Apple Store as the gold standard for pandemic-era safety: masked staff, monitored access complete with temperatures taken at the door, appointment scheduling, extremely limited capacity and more. If an outlet that s instituted such procedures isn t immune from viral spread, then nowhere is entirely safe and right no