Here's how Larimer County providers are allocating COVID-19 treatments amid low supply

Sady Swanson, Fort Collins Coloradoan
·7 min read

Treatments for COVID-19 have proved effective against preventing people from needing to be hospitalized, but the fast-spreading omicron variant has once again complicated things.

Some monoclonal antibody treatments used to treat other variants of COVID-19 aren’t effective against the omicron variant, which now makes up 100% of cases in Colorado, according to data from the state health department.

The omicron variant is more contagious and has caused more breakthrough cases than previous variants of the virus, infecting more vaccinated people — though fully vaccinated people are still far less likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19. About 68% of people hospitalized statewide Thursday were unvaccinated, according to data provided by the state health department.

While vaccination against COVID-19 is the best way to prevent serious illness, hospitalization and death, health officials say, treatments have been effective in preventing those who do catch COVID-19 from getting severely ill and needing hospital care.

But with such low supply of treatments coming from the federal government as the fast-spreading omicron variant infects more people than during any other time of the pandemic and proves resistant to some available treatments, many Coloradans who would benefit from COVID-19 treatment may not get it.

Test positive for or exposed to COVID-19?: Here's what the CDC says you should do

Fewer treatments effective against omicron, and they remain in short supply

Larimer County had a good supply of monoclonal antibody treatment when the delta variant was the most common variant of COVID-19 during the fall, Larimer County Health Director Tom Gonzales told the Coloradoan earlier this month. The county was able to open up treatment to more patients, which helped drop the number of people admitted to local hospitals for COVID-19.

Enter omicron.

Just one of the three monoclonal antibody treatments for COVID-19 have proved to be effective against omicron, Gonzales said. Both antiviral pills that have received emergency authorization to treat COVID-19 are also effective against the variant.

In addition to fewer treatments being effective against omicron, the supply the state is currently receiving from the federal government is small. That means providers have to limit who receives treatment.

Last week, Colorado received 690 doses of the monoclonal antibody treatment effective against omicron — called Sotrovimab — and 1,376 doses of the other two types of monoclonal antibody treatments — Bamlanivimab/etesevimab and REGEN-COV.

Previous reporting: Northern Colorado COVID-19 patients get experimental treatment to keep them out of hospital

The state received 6,840 doses in total of the antiviral treatments used by Larimer County last week, according to the state health department: 1,360 doses of Paxlovid and 5,480 doses of Molnupiravir.

The state is dependent on the federal government for distributions of treatments, and the federal government has told the state they hope to increase the amount of treatments distributed in the coming weeks, a state spokesperson told the Coloradoan.

How Larimer County providers are treating COVID-19 patients

Because of the low supply of treatments, most Larimer County health care providers are reserving treatment only for people who are at high-risk of becoming severely ill from COVID-19, including:

  • People who are 65 years or older

  • People with certain underlying medical conditions

UCHealth hospitals stopped offering the monoclonal antibody treatments that are not effective against omicron in late December, when the variant had started quickly spreading through the state, spokesperson Kelly Tracer said.

The Sotrovimab monoclonal antibody treatment is in such short supply that UCHealth hospitals are unable to offer that treatment at this time, Tracer said last week.

“We hope to receive more supply so we can continue to help patients prevent serious illness and hospitalization,” Tracer said.

The two antiviral pills — Paxlovid and Molnupiravir — are also in limited supply, so only patients who are at the highest risk for hospitalization are offered a prescription, Tracer said, and patients may need to have multiple high-risk factors to qualify.

UCHealth ships antiviral prescriptions overnight to patients “in an effort to maximize access to patients across Colorado,” Tracer said. Individual UCHealth pharmacies don’t stock the medications.

Banner Health has experienced a similar shortage in treatments. Due to a limited supply of anitviral pills and monoclonal antibody treatments, not all patients who meet the criteria for treatment will receive it, spokesperson Sara Quale said.

Antiviral pills can be prescribed by a primary care or urgent care physician, if it's determined the patient meets the criteria to receive treatment. Banner Health’s pharmacies in Loveland and Greeley fill those prescriptions pending their supply, Quale said.

Depending on availability and eligibility, providers can order antibody treatment and patients can be referred to one of Banner’s outpatient infusion centers to receive treatment in Greeley, Loveland or Brush, Quale said.

Need boosted?: Where to get a COVID-19 booster shot in Northern Colorado

Associates in Family Medicine physicians are referring most patients who qualify for treatment to monoclonal antibody therapy instead of prescribing antiviral pills because of the low supply, spokesperson Kelsey Power said.

Power said providers at Associates in Family Medicine will refer COVID-19-positive patients who fit the following criteria to treatment:

  • People currently undergoing chemotherapy

  • People who have received organ transplants

  • Unvaccinated patients age 75 and older

"We just want to make sure the people who need it the most have access to it," Power said.

Associates in Family Medicine has three providers in Larimer County they refer patients to, Power said: Poudre Infusion Therapy, UCHealth and Origin Healthcare.

Origin Healthcare is a mobile medical team that provides in-home assessments and treatments for COVID-19, among other health care services, CEO Christine Lum Lung said. Origin is currently providing monoclonal antibody treatment to patients and has requested supply of antiviral pills but is waiting to see if the team will receive any, Lum Lung said.

Lum Lung said Origin tries to contact patients referred to the team that same day or the next day to discuss the process and assess if the patient is eligible for treatment, with high-risk patients, including those who are immunocompromised, prioritized first. Origin typically has a waitlist of 10 to 20 patients, so it may be a few days before patients receive treatment.

Treatments are most effective if started close to when someone begins experiencing symptoms, Gonzales said. The antiviral pill Paxlovid should be taken starting no later than three days after the start of symptoms, but Sotrovimab antibody treatment can be effective if started up to 10 days after symptoms start, according to the county health department.

More than half of COVID-19 test results in Larimer County are coming back in four or more days, according to the county's COVID-19 data dashboard.

People who are high-risk for severe illness from COVID-19 may qualify for treatment before testing positive, according to the state health department, if they are not fully vaccinated or do not have enough protection from the vaccine and have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19.

Mask up: These Larimer County libraries are giving away free medical-grade masks

How to get treatment for COVID-19

People should talk with a health care provider as soon as possible after starting to have symptoms or testing positive for COVID-19 to see if they qualify for treatment. People may be eligible for treatment if they:

  • Have tested positive for COVID-19

  • Have started to have symptoms in the last 10 days

  • Aren't hospitalized or on oxygen due to COVID-19

  • Are at risk of serious illness due to COVID-19

Here's how to learn about treatment options available through the state and various providers:

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: COVID-19 treatments limited in Colorado due to omicron variant