Colorado Coronavirus Update: 1,343 New Cases Reported

Amber Fisher
·1 min read

Colorado began to see an uptick in coronavirus case numbers after the holiday season, but the state has seen a plateau over the past few days, public health data shows.

Between Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon, 1,343 new cases of the coronavirus were reported in Colorado.

As of Saturday, 374,981 cases of the coronavirus have been reported in the state among 2,296,100 people who have been tested since the outbreak began, health officials confirmed. Around 20,687 people have been hospitalized.

Colorado's COVID-19 death toll:

  • Deaths due to COVID-19: 4,502

  • Deaths among cases: 5,379

Around 35 percent of the state's critical care ventilators were in use as of Saturday, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

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Around 16 percent of Colorado hospitals reported anticipating staff shortages over the next week, and 6 percent of hospitals reported anticipating ICU bed shortages.

All 'Level Red' counties have moved to 'Level Orange' on the state's COVID-19 dial, which means businesses are allowed higher capacity caps and fewer restrictions.

Colorado continues to receive vaccine shipments, which are being distributed in three phases over the next nine months. The federal government told Colorado that a second dose was being held in reserve, but that information wasn't accurate, Gov. Jared Polis said during a virtual news conference Friday. Colorado expected to receive 210,000 doses of the vaccine from the national reserve next week, but our state is now set to receive only 79,000 doses.

This article originally appeared on the Across Colorado Patch