DENVER (KDVR) — As more than 50% of the country saw COVID-19 rates increase over the last 7-days, Colorado rates continued to drop.
COVID-19 positivity rates and incidence rates are down over the last week.
As of Monday, the state’s 7-day positivity rate was 6.85%, which is down from 8.62%. Positivity rate measures the amount of COVID positive tests to the total amount of tests taken.
The highest positivity rate in the state over the past seven days is San Juan County with 16.7% positivity.
From Dec. 6 to Dec. 13, 20 counties saw an increase in COVID-19 positivity, 40 saw a decrease in COVID-19 positivity, and two counties administered fewer than 10 tests in the past week.
According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the incidence rates decreased over the last seven days.
Here’s a look at positivity rates for every county over the last seven days:
1-week positivity rate:
- Adams: 8.5% (down from previous week)
- Alamosa: 6.3% (down from previous week)
- Arapahoe: 7.5% (down from previous week)
- Archuleta: 5.9% (down from previous week)
- Baca: 2.1% (down from previous week)
- Bent: 3.4% (up from previous week)
- Boulder: 4.7% (down from previous week)
- Broomfield: 6.1% (down from previous week)
- Chaffee: 4.3% (up from previous week)
- Cheyenne: 1.0% (up from previous week)
- Clear Creek: 3.3% (down from previous week)
- Conejos: 6.5% (up from previous week)
- Costilla: 3.9% (down from previous week)
- Crowley: 2% (down from previous week)
- Custer: 7.5% (down from previous week)
- Delta: 6.6% (down from previous week)
- Denver: 5.7% (down from previous week)
- Dolores: 5.6% (down from previous week)
- Douglas: 7.9% (down from previous week)
- Eagle: 7.2% (down from previous week)
- Elbert: 9.4% (down from previous week)
- El Paso: 8.7% (down from previous week)
- Fremont: 4.2% (down from previous week)
- Garfield: 9.3% (down from previous week)
- Gilpin: 6.8% (down from previous week)
- Grand: 8% (down from previous week)
- Gunnison: 4.5% (down from previous week)
- Hinsdale: Fewer than 10 tests in the past week
- Huerfano: 4.5% (up from previous week)
- Jackson: 3.4% (down from previous week)
- Jefferson: 7.2% (down from previous week)
- Kiowa: 3.3% (up from previous week)
- Kit Carson: 8.3% (up from previous week)
- Lake: 11% (down from previous week)
- La Plata: 6.7% (up from previous week)
- Larimer: 6.5% (down from previous week)
- Las Animas: 5.5% (down from previous week)
- Lincoln: 7.1% (up from previous week)
- Logan: 4% (down from previous week)
- Mesa: 6.5% (down from previous week)
- Mineral: Fewer than 10 tests in the past week
- Moffat: 8.5% (up from previous week)
- Montezuma: 11.7% (up from previous week)
- Montrose: 6.8% (down from previous week)
- Morgan: 9.1% (down from previous week)
- Otero: 3.3% (down from previous week)
- Ouray: 12.1% (up from previous week)
- Park: 12.5% (down from previous week)
- Phillips: 10.3% (up from previous week)
- Pitkin: 4.9% (up from previous week)
- Prowers: 4.6% (down from previous week)
- Pueblo: 4.7% (down from previous week)
- Rio Blanco: 4.8% (down from previous week)
- Rio Grande: 3.3% (down from previous week)
- Routt: 3.5% (down from previous week)
- Saguache: 13.6% (up from previous week)
- San Juan: 16.7% (up from previous week)
- San Miguel: 5.9% (up from previous week)
- Sedgwick: 1.7% (up from previous week)
- Summit: 4.5% (up from previous week)
- Teller: 5.7% (down from previous week)
- Washington: 4.5% (down from previous week)
- Weld: 8.3% (down from previous week)
- Yuma: 15.6% (up from previous week)
What is the positivity percent?
According to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the percent positive is exactly what it sounds like: the percentage of all coronavirus tests performed that are actually positive, or: (positive tests)/(total tests) x 100%. The percent positive (sometimes called the “percent positive rate” or “positivity rate”) helps public health officials answer questions such as:
- What is the current level of SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus) transmission in the community?
- Are we doing enough testing for the amount of people who are getting infected?
The percent positive will be high if the number of positive tests is too high, or if the number of total tests is too low. A higher percent positive suggests higher transmission and that there are likely more people with coronavirus in the community who haven’t been tested yet, Johns Hopkins shared.