DENVER | COVID-19 cases in Colorado have leveled out but have not yet improved, Gov. Jared Polis said in a Friday press conference.
The state counted 4,678 new cases on Friday, Polis said, and 1,559 people are currently hospitalized with the virus. That’s down from the peak of hospitalizations, but still much higher than just two months ago in October, when 300 or 400 people were hospitalized.
“It hasn’t gotten worse but it hasn’t gotten much better,” Polis said of the state’s COVID-19 status.
He asked people to continue to wear masks and to social distance to try and keep case rates down as the state prepares to receive its first shipments of the COVID-19 vaccine, which is expected by the end of the year.
That includes being responsible over the winter holidays. People need to be “very, very careful” over Christmas, Polis said. While some elderly relatives who live in long-term care facilities might be receiving the vaccine around Christmastime, that doesn’t mean that they are immediately immune, he said. The vaccine requires two shots and full immunity isn’t conferred until about 10 days after the second shot.
He advised people who are especially vulnerable to the virus to find “alternative ways to honor your faith traditions” this year, and urged people who are traveling to quarantine as much as possible for two weeks beforehand.
He acknowledged that this is not an easy time to be isolated from others, but with the change of contracting the virus as high as it has even been in the state, it’s important to continue to be careful.
“Christmas is really about love and the best way we show love is to protect one another,” Polis said.