Banner, UCHealth leaders to give COVID-19 update in virtual town hall Thursday

Sady Swanson, Fort Collins Coloradoan
·2 min read

Leaders from Northern Colorado hospitals will give an update on how hospitals are being impacted by COVID-19 during a virtual town hall Thursday.

Community members can join an online meeting Thursday from noon to 1 p.m. to hear about how hospitals in Larimer and Weld counties are addressing COVID-19.

Leaders from the region's major hospital systems — Margo Karsten from Banner Health and Kevin Unger from UCHealth — and physicians from both systems will discuss topics including hospitalization trends, ICU admissions, how vaccines reduce the severity of the illness and how the community can help, according to a news release from the Larimer County health department.

Community members can submit questions online prior to the town hall at https://bit.ly/31ZLfqz. Questions can also be submitted during the town hall.

To join the town hall, visit https://bit.ly/3wVXpfy at noon Thursday.

Larimer County's ICU utilization has been above 100% since mid-October, according to the county's data dashboard. As of Wednesday, 100 people were hospitalized for COVID-19 in Larimer County.

As of Nov. 11, 357 people were hospitalized at UCHealth hospitals across Colorado, and 288 of those people were unvaccinated, according to data provided by UCHealth. Of those hospitalized, 125 were in the ICU, 110 of whom were unvaccinated.

Vaccinated people are 10 times less likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19 and 13.4 times less likely to die from COVID-19, state epidemiologist Rachel Herlihy said during a Wednesday news conference.

Colorado reported more than 1,500 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 Wednesday, state COVID-19 incident commander Scott Bookman said during Wednesday's news conference. State health officials have said Colorado hospitals could reach capacity by the end of the year. Eighty percent of people currently hospitalized for COVID-19 in Colorado are unvaccinated, Bookman said.

Sady Swanson covers public safety, criminal justice, Larimer County government and more throughout Northern Colorado. You can send your story ideas to her at sswanson@coloradoan.com or on Twitter at @sadyswan. Support her work and that of other Coloradoan journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Northern Colorado hospital leaders to give virtual COVID-19 update