While the COVID-19 delta variant has hit hard in some Western Slope counties, Pitkin County has so far only reported four cases, two of which involved out of county residents, an official said Thursday.
The delta variant now accounts for 58% of the new COVID-19 cases in the United States and, according to one study, is 50% more transmissible than the first alpha variant that circulated, said Josh Vance, Pitkin County epidemiologist.
“We just haven’t seen a lot of delta variant activity,” Vance told members of the Pitkin County Board of Health at their virtual meeting Thursday.
Other nearby resort counties were in the same boat as Pitkin, with Eagle and Summit counties each reporting just three delta variant cases, he said. Mesa County, however, has reported 600 delta cases, while Garfield County has seen 85 cases and Moffat County has reported 87 cases. On the Front Range, Denver has reported just 24 delta cases, while El Paso County — where Colorado Springs is located — has had 304 cases, Vance said.