During an April 13 press conference, Governor Jared Polis confirmed that the state will follow the feds lead and put Johnson & Johnson usage on hold until officials give their okay to start doling out shots again a process that may take just a day or two, though there s no guarantee of that. In the meantime, he added, the state will do its best to provide extra Pfizer and Moderna doses to vaccination sites so that Coloradans with Johnson & Johnson appointments won t have to reschedule over the next couple of days, at least. However, he conceded that some appointments likely won t happen on time, and those who d prefer what he called the one and done Johnson & Johnson formula will need to wait to get it.
1,616 variants of concern (up 348 from April 4) 31 variants under investigation (unchanged from April 4) 26,274 hospitalizations (up 508 from April 4) 64 counties (unchanged from April 4) 6,157 deaths among cases (up 31 from April 4) 6,296 deaths due to COVID-19 (up 43 from April 4) 4,466 outbreaks (up 138 from April 4)
Four major takeaways:
• The number of new COVID-19 cases hit the quintuple-digit mark over the past seven days, going from 9,567 on April 4 to 10,557 a week later a rise of nearly 10 percent. The last time the figures exceeded 10,0000 over that span was the week ending January 24. • Hospitalizations on a percentage basis increased even more. The 508 new admissions listed on April 11 represent a more than 20 percent jump from the 415 on April 4.
In an unexpected twist, weather was among the major topics in Governor Jared Polis s February 12 press conference updating the public on Colorado s response to COVID-19. With extreme cold expected to envelop most of the state over the extended Presidents Day weekend, many testing sites are curtailing some or all of their activities (see the complete list below), and there are concerns that many of the people scheduled to be inoculated will skip their appointments because of the bitter temperatures.
Polis s message for those unable to get tested: If you have symptoms, assume you re infected and quarantine just as you would after a positive diagnosis until you can confirm or disprove their suspicions. As for those slated for vaccinations scheduled, since blizzard conditions are unlikely, try to keep the appointments. It s very important that we don t let Mother Nature slow our progress against the pandemic, he said. We in Colorado aren t afraid of a little bit of cold.