While the delta COVID-19 variant took 12 or more weeks to account for 100% of positive cases in Colorado, the omicron variant that emerged around Thanksgiving needed only three weeks to out-compete other variants and replace them as the dominant strain across the state.
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment data shows the omicron variant completely outpaced delta and other strains by Dec. 26.
Additional data from San Juan Basin Public Health demonstrates that a dramatic spike in COVID-19 cases raised Tuesday for La Plata County with a one-week cumulative incidence rate of 934 cases per 100,000 people.
Cases had been on the rise since Dec. 29 when the one-week cumulative incidence rate leaped upward by 140 to 379 and then continued to scale higher daily.
Liane Jollon, executive director at SJBPH, said omicron accounts for all of the cases associated with the recent spike and incoming surge. She warned that the COVID-19 surge impending in the weeks ahead will prove difficult and tiring for businesses, governments, schools and the community at large.
“We do expect that there will be disruptions to businesses, workplaces and plans that individuals have due to this spike,” she said. “This is a very tough spot to be in as a community going into 2022.”
The severity of symptoms or overall sickness one may experience from the omicron variant remains unclear. Because the virus is still so new, public health experts don’t yet have enough data to say for sure how severe omicron is.
Data suggests omicron had an advantage because of its high transmissibility, colder weather that brought people indoors and closer together, and holiday travel that allowed the variant to spread so rapidly.
Even if omicron proves less severe than other variants of COVID-19, it still poses a serious risk to public health.
“The evidence so far is that it does not cause as many people to experience severe infection and land in the hospital,” Jollon said. “... But because it is growing at such a rapid pace, it has a lot of opportunity – even as a less severe illness – to also overwhelm the health care system.”
Chandler Griffin, spokesman for SJBPH, said it is vital for community members to understand that the omicron variant presents “significant risk,” particularly for those who are vulnerable, have comorbidities or are unvaccinated.
Since Dec. 17, the local hospital system has had 12% to as little as 0% intensive care unit capacity. Ninety percent to 100% of those hospitalized have been patients who were unvaccinated, Jollon said.
Mercy Hospital has had 12 new admissions over the period of a week as of Jan. 2, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As of Wednesday, nine outbreaks were under active investigation in La Plata County, including:
- Durango High School, first reported Dec. 2 (20 total cases).
- Escalante Middle School, first reported Dec. 2 (26 total cases).
- Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites – Durango, first reported Dec. 14 (six total cases).
- Ignacio Elementary School, first reported Nov. 9 (22 total cases).
- Junction Creek Health and Rehab Center, first reported Dec. 20 (four total cases).
- Mercy Hospital, first reported Aug. 17 (69 total cases).
- Purgatory Resort – Paradise Pizzeria and Ice Creamery, first reported Dec. 28 (one case).
- Purgatory Resort – Purgy’s Restaurant, first reported Jan. 4 (nine total cases).
- Sunshine Gardens West Assisted Living, first reported Dec. 30 (three total cases).
Fort Lewis College announced it is delaying winter classes one week because of the recent and rapid spread of the omicron variant. Classes are now scheduled to begin Jan. 24. All students, faculty and staff members are required to be vaccinated and to get their booster shot as soon as they become eligible for it.
The delay will push finals and commencement back one week.
Griffin said health department data shows an “extremely high” positivity rate of COVID-19 tests at 28%.
He and Jollon said all of the common transmission reduction strategies should be used, starting with full vaccination and booster shots. They urged use of high-quality and well-fitting masks outside the household and in public places and even suggested returning to strategies that were more common earlier in the pandemic, such as staying home as much as possible and avoiding contact with people outside of one’s own household.
To add protection, Jollon recommended using Apple and Google’s COVID-19 exposure notifications which, when activated, will alert people when they have been nearby someone who later tested positive for COVID-19.
Jollon said many people probably set up the exposure notifications early during the pandemic and then simply forgot about them. With the state announcing that between one in five or one in 10 Coloradans are infectious with the omicron variant, Jollon said residents shouldn’t be surprised if they start receiving exposure notifications more frequently.
cburney@durangoherald.com
