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The Trust Project

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An illustration of a nurse giving a woman a shot.
(Provided by Gigafact.)

Yes.

Though January has delivered some relief for Coloradans, the last week of December saw the highest number of influenza hospitalizations in the state’s 20-year history of collecting hospitalization data. 

During the week ending Dec. 27, the state reported 846 people were hospitalized from the flu. That tops the previous high of 582 for the week ending Dec. 26, 2014. 

Emergency room visits for the flu in Colorado are “very high” and increasing, the Centers for Disease Control said in a Jan. 9 advisory. Meanwhile, emergency visits for COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, were considered low. 

The state has reported 3,687 total hospitalizations and two deaths from flu since October.

Vaccination rates for flu in Colorado are slightly behind what they were this time last year. As of Jan. 14, 28.7% of Coloradans have received this year’s flu vaccine, compared with 29.5% in 2025.

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Sources

References:

Viral Respiratory Diseases Report, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, accessed January 2026. Source link

Respiratory Virus Immunization Data, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, accessed January 2026. Source link

Respiratory Illness Data Channel, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accessed January 2026. Source link

Colorado experiences record number of flu hospitalizations, Colorado Politics, Jan. 1, 2026. Source link

Correspondence with Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment spokesperson, CDPHE, Jan. 15, 2025. Source link

Type of Story: Fact-Check

Checks a specific statement or set of statements asserted as fact.

Cassis Tingley is a Denver-based freelance journalist. She’s spent the last three years covering topics ranging from political organizing and death doulas in the Denver community to academic freedom and administrative accountability at the...