How We Know Omicron 5 Is Still Spreading Almost Everywhere in Colorado

Wastewater monitoring is filling in data gaps.

August 25, 2022

Image: The photo on the CDPHE webpage devoted to COVID-19 wastewater monitoring.

The photo on the CDPHE webpage devoted to COVID-19 wastewater monitoring. covid19.colorado.gov

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The latest COVID-19 statistics from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment don't tell the whole story about the disease's spread, since most people currently confirm infections with at-home tests whose results aren't registered with the state. However, the CDPHE's wastewater-monitoring project is helping to fill in the gaps, and as of today, August 25, Omicron 5, Colorado's most prevalent COVID subvariant, was present at 45 of 55 surveillance locations across the state — and samples at the other ten either weren't available or were deemed insufficient.

Technical problems with the CDPHE's main COVID data page prevented it from updating properly on August 17. As a result, our last roundup drew upon August 15 data. Continue to see the comparison of those figures with the ones revealed after 4 p.m. yesterday, August 24

1,624,816 cases (up 7,965 from August 15)
67,730 hospitalized (up 588 from August 15)
13,137 deaths among cases (up 47 from August 15)
13,858 deaths due to COVID-19 (up 66 from August 15)
9,623 outbreaks (up 37 from August 15)

Four takeaways:

• The new-case count sits at 7,965 for eight days through August 23, versus 5,929 for the five days ending on August 15. So the average number of cases per day actually declined by a modest amount.

• The situation is different for hospitalizations, which went from 114 over the five days ending August 15 to 588 for the eight days leading up to August 23. But that total includes hospitalizations that hadn't been counted previously; the actual number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 during the week of August 23 came in at 184, down from 236 for the week of August 16.

• The disparity between fatality figures can't be so easily explained. The 47 deaths among cases and 66 deaths directly attributed to COVID-19 for the eight days up to August 23 reflect a higher average than the 22 deaths among cases and 34 deaths due to COVID-19 recorded over the five days through August 15.

• The state's seven-day-average positivity rate of 6.55 percent on August 23 was down from 7.63 percent on August 15 — closer to the 5 percent level that the CDPHE prefers not to exceed. But because fewer results are being shared with state health reps, this metric is less meaningful than earlier in the pandemic. Meanwhile, COVID-19 samples sequenced by the agency during the week of July 24, the most recent for which stats are available, show that 86.86 percent of cases were linked to Omicron 5, 6.29 percent to Omicron 4 and 4.57 to Omicron 3, with smaller percentages associated with other subvariants.

Wastewater surveillance confirms the dominance of Omicron 5. Samples weren't available or were found insufficient at monitor stations for Alamosa, Aspen, Arapahoe, Basalt, Copper Mountain, Grand Junction, Nederland, Ouray, Purgatory Resort and Silverton. The variant was found everywhere else that health officials are monitoring: urban locations along the Front Range, mountain towns, remote rural areas and more.

Even so, outbreaks of COVID-19 in the small percentage of establishments that the CDPHE currently tracks declined on a week-over-week basis; the 23 new or tweaked entries made public on August 24 is a significant improvement over the 38 on August 17. Once again, the majority of the latest additions are health-care facilities that specialize in senior care. Exceptions include four child-care centers and two institutions devoted to serving the developmentally disabled.

Here are the 23 new or tweaked outbreaks identified by the CDPHE, including information about categories, county of origin, and the date when the spread was officially recognized. The department no longer provides information about the overall number of infections or deaths and whether they pertain to residents, staff members or attendees.

1. Balfour at Longmont (23L108): August 2022, Healthcare, Assisted Living, Boulder County, 8/17/2022
2. Bright Horizons — West Fort Collins: August 2022, Child Care Center, Larimer County, 8/1/2022
3. Brookdale Meridian Englewood (23N600): August 2022, Healthcare, Assisted Living, Arapahoe County, 8/19/2022
4. Family Health West Memory Care (231128): August 2022, Healthcare, Assisted Living, Mesa County, 8/8/2022
5. Flourish Supportive Living at Reed (2304KB): August 2022, Healthcare, Assisted Living, Jefferson County, 8/23/2022
6. Garden Square at Westlake (2303C0): August 2022, Healthcare, Assisted Living, Weld County, 8/4/2022
7. Grand Junction Regional Center — House 1: August 2022, Healthcare, Facility for Developmentally Disabled (Inpatient), Mesa County, 8/16/2022
8. Life Care Center of Aurora (0204F6): August 2022, Healthcare, Skilled Nursing, Arapahoe County, 8/10/2022
9. Marion House (050140): August 2022, Healthcare, RCFDD Group Home, Kit Carson County, 8/10/2022
10. Melody Living of Colorado Springs (23P166): August 2022, Healthcare, Assisted Living, El Paso County, 8/15/2022
11. Mesa Vista of Boulder (020380): August 2022, Healthcare, Skilled Nursing, Boulder County, 8/8/2022
12. Morningstar Assisted Living of Littleton (23N258): August 2022, Healthcare, Assisted Living, Jefferson County, 8/18/2022
13. Pueblo Regional Center — House A (020662): August 2022, Healthcare, Facility for Developmentally Disabled (Inpatient), Pueblo County, 7/29/2022
14. Pueblo Regional Center — House B: August 2022, Healthcare, Facility for Developmentally Disabled (Inpatient), Pueblo County, 8/17/2022
15. Springs of Life Children's Center — Academy & Maizeland: August 2022, Child Care Center, El Paso County, 8/17/2022
16. Springs Village Care Center (020535): August 2022, Healthcare, Skilled Nursing, El Paso County, 8/8/2022
17. Stephen's Farm at Adeo Colorado (23A930): August 2022, Healthcare, Assisted Living, Weld County, 8/16/2022
18. The Aspen Center for Child Development: August 2022, Child Care Center, Boulder County, 8/17/2022
19. The Goddard School — Castle Rock, Child Care Center, Douglas County, 8/22/2022
20. The Myron Stratton Home (230560): August 2022, Healthcare, Assisted Living, El Paso County, 8/19/2022
21. The Retreat at Harbor Cove (23114D): August 2022, Healthcare, Assisted Living, Mesa County, 7/25/2022
22. Walsh Healthcare Center (020298): August 2022, Healthcare, Skilled Nursing, Baca County, 8/16/2022
23. Winslow Court Retirement Community (230512): August 2022, Healthcare, Assisted Living, El Paso County, 8/23/2022

Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.

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