Governor Polis COVID-19 Update April 29, 2020
Topline Update
We currently have 14,758 cases, 766 deaths, and 2,621 hospitalizations out of 69,449 completed tests. We are thinking of these families and communities during these trying times.
This case data is broken down by various categories, is updated daily and can be found here.
Daily growth in cases has declined. As of yesterday, the growth rate is down to 2.8%. We are continuing to see positive results on the hospitalization side. The daily growth in hospitalizations as of yesterday was 0.4%.
But we need to keep these numbers moving in the right direction. And that means continuing to stay home, wear masks, and adhere to the “Safer-at-Home” order that went into effect on Monday.
Colorado Testing Goals
Today the Governor provided an update on the state’s testing capability and infrastructure, and our plans to scale up our epidemiological work.
When this crisis began, we could only run 160 tests a day. Today we are running 3,000 tests per day. Our goal, between public and private partners, is to grow our daily capacity in early May to 5,000 and continue to scale up from there from 8,500+ tests/day if needed by the end of May.
How do we meet this goal?
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Increase testing supplies
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Increase availability of testing to the public
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Increase epidemiological capacity to make tests meaningful in preventing further outbreaks.
Testing Supplies Update
The Governor provided an update on where we are in terms of testing supply numbers. Keep in mind that this is a snapshot of a constantly changing situation because as soon as we get our hands on equipment, it is distributed to ensure more testing.
Right now we have:
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15,000 Swabs / Viral Media
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20,000 Extraction Reagents
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100,000 Detection Reagents which we have secured from South Korea.
Yesterday, the Governor was on a call with the White House where we were promised:
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195,000 swabs / viral media
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Guaranteed a purchase order from private companies to purchase the extraction and detection reagents
By May 11, we expect to have secured
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147,000 Swabs / Viral Media -- that includes part of the federal commitment.
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117,000 Extraction Reagents
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147,000 Detection Reagents
And by the end of may, we expect to have secured
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195,000 Swabs / Viral Media -- this includes the full federal commitment.
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195,000 Extraction Reagents
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195,000 Detection Reagents
We want to thank our innovation response team for their incredible work. There is fierce competition in this market to get this equipment and everyone in the world is trying to get it. And in a matter of weeks we have stepped up to fill the gap on both sourcing and distribution which has allowed us to make significant progress. We expect that over time, supply chain issues will be resolved, and the supply of testing equipment will be able to keep up with the demand.
4 types of testing
The Governor spoke about increasing the availability of testing. To hit our goal -- we need to provide a variety of sites across the state and meet people where they are.
There are four types of testing sites in Colorado where you can get COVID testing:
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Private sector hospitals and health care facilities
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These facilities are currently testing health care workers and patients, and the tests are covered by insurance.
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Hospitals:
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Community Health Centers:
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Other providers
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As we move forward, we’re going to be asking these facilities to step up more testing for the general public.
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Local community-based testing sites, most of them headed up by local public health agencies
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We are helping local public health agencies stand these up across the state.
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Two weeks ago, we distributed a playbook to local public health agencies to support them in their work, and asked them to submit a request to the state.
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So far, 51 counties have requested a site.
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The state lab has completed readiness assessments and approved plans for 34 sites.
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We have sent supplies to 26 of these testing sites and as more come on line, we will be sending supplies to these as well to meet people where they are.
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We will be announcing a list of sites in the coming days.
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State collaborations with private-sector partners.
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Targeted testing for outbreaks and at-risk populations
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We’re working with the CO National Guard and local agencies to ramp up testing at nursing homes -- we know these facilities are particularly vulnerable to contagion.
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Here’s an update on that effort:
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4 of the state’s largest facilities have been tested and one is ongoing
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1,171 total tests
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99 total positive -- 55 symptomatic, 33 asymptomatic, and 11 unknown levels of symptoms.
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30 tests pending.
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We’re proud to announce a new partnership with CSU which will provide 45,000 tests on nursing home workers during May and June, and we will also be sending extra personal protective equipment like masks and gloves to our senior care facilities to ensure staff and residents are more protected.
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For particular communities and areas where there is a large number of symptomatic cases relative to population, such as Weld County, we’re doing specialized testing sites.
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We tested 882 people in Weld County over the last four days
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123 positives -- 88 symptomatic, 34 asymptomatic -- which underscores our challenge, not everyone who has it shows symptoms.
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140 tests still pending.
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And we left additional kits with Weld County Public Health to continue to meet the high need for testing and containment in Weld County.
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We’ve also had dedicated sites in Pueblo (484 tested), Mesa (482 tested), El Paso (1769 tested) and the Denver Metro Area
Who can get tested?
Right now here’s who can get tested:
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Symptomatic healthcare and frontline workers
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Symptomatic hospital and nursing home patients
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Symptomatic workers and others in outbreak areas (i.e. JBS)
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Some symptomatic community members
By mid-May, we want to continue to test all of these groups:
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Symptomatic healthcare and frontline workers
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Symptomatic hospital and nursing home patients
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Symptomatic workers and others in outbreaks
And we want to be able to test ALL symptomatic community members who want it, and have the capacity for broader outbreak testing.
Finally as we continue to scale, we will build a robust program to prevent hotspots in senior, long term care, and congregate care facilities, and other vulnerable populations like people experiencing homelessness.
Epidemiological Update
In order for this strategy to be successful, we need to ramp up our epidemiological capacity. That starts with bringing in more trained professionals to do this important work. CDPHE has grown its COVID-19 epidemic response team from 31 staff to 56, a near doubling of the staff.
This includes:
We are building a first in the country COVID Navigator Program, to establish wrap-around supports for those who are sick. We are hiring staff for this effort as well. All of the epidemiological staff at the state level will work in collaboration with local public health agencies and their epidemiological teams. But if we want the best epidemiological response that we can have -- it requires more than just staff. We need to bring all of the technological tools we can to bear.
In partnership with Google + MTX, we’ve launched a new symptom tracker to help you determine if you need to seek out a test or medical help, to guide you on next steps, and to help our epidemiologists determine if there’s an outbreak in your area and respond accordingly.
This sort of self-reporting is happening across our state and it’s helping to save lives. We have already had over 1,000 entries into the tracker that’s providing us with valuable information. The tracker consists of a short survey on covid19.colorado.gov where you submit your symptoms. You can opt into text message support which will direct you to various resources, from telemedicine to behavioral health support. We’re also collecting data from ERs on patient symptoms so we can track which communities are the most impacted.
All of these things working in concert will help us achieve success in this next phase:
And together, with Safer-at-Home for most of the population, Stay-at-home for vulnerable populations, wearing face coverings, and other distancing and hygienic steps -- we can continue to make progress in our fight against this deadly virus and hopefully, begin to remove even more barriers in our society and our economy.
COVID Health Equity Response Team
The racial data that we are releasing shows that some communities of color are more likely to suffer from COVID and the impacts of the disease. This is likely a proxy for other societal inequities because historically people of color have unequal access to health care, economic opportunity, and benefits, all of which impact their ability to deal with COVID and the surrounding crisis.
So a couple of weeks ago we announced that we would be setting up a COVID health equity response team to:
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Ensure equity as a factor in decision-making around logistics and resources,
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Increase access to testing and care services,
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Ensure racial and ethnicity COVID-19 data are accessible, transparent and used in decision-making,
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And share time-sensitive information about how Colorado communities are experiencing particular challenges related to the COVID-19 response.
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This team will be headed by Web Brown, the Director of the Office of Health Equity at CDPHE. And today we are glad to announce the task force members:
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Congressman Joe Neguse, CD-2
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Farduus Ahmed, Hope Communities
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Harry Budisidharta, Asian Pacific Development Center
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Lizeth Chacon, Colorado People's Alliance
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Eudelia Contreras, Lake County Build a Generation
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Maggie Gomez, Center for Health Progress
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Joline Dorce, Dawn Clinic
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Rudy Gonzales, Servicios de la Raza
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Amanda Henderson, Interfaith Alliance
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Deidre Johnson, Center for African American Health
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Adrianne Maddux, Denver Indian Health and Family Services
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Denise Maes, ACLU
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Kenny Maestas, Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition
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Omar Montgomery, Center for Identity and Inclusion-University of Colorado Denver
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Priscilla Montoya Vitello, Latino Community Foundation
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Michelle McHenry-Edrington, Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition
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Rosemary McDonnell-Horita, Atlantis Community, Inc.
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Rosemary Lyttle, NAACP
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Ricardo Perez, Hispanic Affairs Project
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Alex Sánchez, Roaring Fork Latino Network and Voces Unidas
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Carmen Stevens, San Luis Valley Immigrant Rights Center,
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Representative from the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe
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Representative from the Southern Ute Tribe
Click here to learn more about the Health Equity Response Team.
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