The Colorado Hospital Association announced Wednesday that it is activating Tier 3 of the state’s Combined Hospital Transfer Center. How bad is that? Hospitals didn’t have to activate Tier 3, the highest level, during even the busiest months of last winter’s COVID surge. But what the hospital association calls “monumental strain” on the health care […]
coronavirus hospitalizations
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Colorado governor says onus is on unvaccinated with “death wish” as coronavirus situation continues to worsen
A frustrated Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Tuesday all but ruled out issuing a new statewide mask order to curb sharply rising coronavirus infections and hospitalizations, saying that the responsibility instead lies with those who are unvaccinated against the virus to protect themselves. “The patience of most Coloradans is wearing very thin about why we […]
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Treatment with monoclonal antibodies can prevent COVID hospitalizations — if you hurry
When radio host Dennis Prager came to Colorado earlier this month, he was a man on a mission. A few days after returning home, he had achieved his goal: He was sick with COVID-19. Mission accomplished? “That is what I hoped for the entire time,” Prager, who is based in Los Angeles, said on his […]
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Colorado has just 120 intensive care beds available statewide as COVID hospitalizations rise
Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday issued his most urgent plea in months asking Coloradans to get vaccinated against coronavirus in order to break a continued surge in hospitalizations that has left the state with only 120 available intensive care beds. Looking into the camera that was live streaming his news conference, Polis spoke directly to […]
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Some hospitals resorted to crisis triage during the pandemic. A Colorado doctor says more should have.
The early days of the coronavirus pandemic brought a terrifying question into the minds of health leaders across the country: What happens if the virus overwhelms the nation’s health care system? What happens if there’s not enough resources to treat everyone? The question forced states to grapple with the concept of “crisis standards of care” […]
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Why Colorado’s hospitals have bent — but not broken — during the latest COVID surge
Nearly 19 months in, these are some of the toughest days for Colorado hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic. Even as the latest surge in coronavirus hospitalizations appears to have plateaued — what state epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy this week called an “unstable equilibrium” — hospitals across Colorado have still been scrambling to add critical-care beds […]
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Wyoming governor sends National Guard to help COVID-strapped hospitals
CHEYENNE — Wyoming’s governor has activated the Wyoming National Guard to provide temporary assistance to hospitals that are dealing with a surge of patients with COVID-19. Gov. Mark Gordon activated 95 soldiers and airmen Tuesday to serve at 24 sites in 17 Wyoming cities. The Guard members will help with cleanup, food service, coronavirus screening, […]
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Colorado has fewer intensive care beds available now than at any other point in the pandemic
Colorado has fewer intensive care hospital beds available now than at any other point in the coronavirus pandemic, a state health official said Friday, sounding an alarm about the continued spread of the virus’s highly contagious delta variant. The state dipped below 200 available ICU hospital beds on Thursday, said Scott Bookman, the Colorado Department […]
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For Colorado health workers, the latest COVID surge is a special kind of exhausting
For Dr. Marc Moss, the day begins before 7 a.m. Time for rounds. These are anxious weeks again in the intensive care unit at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, where Moss works. After a decline in patients earlier this summer that the hospital’s doctors and nurses had hoped signaled the effective end of the coronavirus […]
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On Colorado’s Front Range, your neighborhood may determine your risk of catching COVID-19
Consider, for a moment, two neighborhoods in Denver: Platt Park and Westwood. Both are in the southern half of the city, separated by a two-mile drive along Mississippi Avenue over the railroad tracks. Both are home to lots of young families. And both, of course, are 16 months into weathering the coronavirus pandemic. But, according […]