DENVER (KDVR) — Christmas Eve is a week away and many people are getting ready to travel for the holidays.
We looked into where Colorado stands right now with COVID-19.
As of Tuesday, the state’s seven-day positivity rate was 12.1%, which is down from 12.6% a week ago. The positivity rate measures the amount of COVID positive tests compared to the total amount of tests taken.
There are 8 counties in the state with a high community level over the last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
- Boulder County
- Broomfield County
- Eagle County
- Fremont County
- Logan County
- Moffat County
- Routt County
- Sedgwick County
The CDC said communities with a high community level of COVID-19 should do the following:
- Wear a mask indoors in public
- Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines
- Get tested if you have symptoms
- Additional precautions may be needed for people at high risk for severe illness
According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, incidence rates have dropped slightly over the last seven days.
Here’s a look at positivity rates for every county over the last seven days:
- Adams: 11.3% (down over last week)
- Alamosa: 8.7% (down over last week)
- Arapahoe: 10.6% (down over last week)
- Archuleta: 11.8% (down over last week)
- Baca: 10% (up over last week)
- Bent: Fewer than 10 tests in the past week
- Boulder: 10.9% (down over last week)
- Broomfield: 13.4% (up over last week)
- Chaffee: 15.1% (up over last week)
- Cheyenne: Fewer than 10 tests in the past week
- Clear Creek: 9.7% (down over last week)
- Conejos: 3.6% (down over last week)
- Costilla: 13.8% (up over last week)
- Crowley: 25% (up over last week)
- Custer: 14.8% (down over last week)
- Delta: 7.1% (same)
- Denver: 11.1% (down over last week)
- Dolores: Fewer than 10 tests in the past week
- Douglas: 11.4% (down over last week)
- Eagle: 18.6% (up over last week)
- El Paso: 12.1% (down over last week)
- Elbert: 9.5% (up over last week)
- Fremont: 13.5% (down over last week)
- Garfield: 9.4% (down over last week)
- Gilpin: 0.0% (down over last week)
- Grand: 6.7% (down over last week)
- Gunnison: 5.4% (down over last week)
- Hinsdale: Fewer than 10 tests in the past week
- Huerfano: 17% (up over last week)
- Jackson: Fewer than 10 tests in the past week
- Jefferson: 8.8% (down over last week)
- Kiowa: Fewer than 10 tests in the past week
- Kit Carson: Fewer than 10 tests in the past week
- La Plata: 17.4% (up over last week)
- Lake: 12.5% (down over last week)
- Larimer: 10.8% (down over last week)
- Las Animas: 7.3% (down over last week)
- Lincoln: 11.5% (down over last week)
- Logan: 10% (up over last week)
- Mesa: 11.8% (down over last week)
- Mineral: Fewer than 10 tests in the past week
- Moffat: 16% (up over last week)
- Montezuma: 16.5% (down over last week)
- Montrose: 9.4% (up over last week)
- Morgan: 6.8% (down over last week)
- Otero: 3% (down over last week)
- Ouray: 0.0% (down over last week)
- Park: 20.8% (up over last week)
- Phillips: 19.2% (down over last week)
- Pitkin: 12.7% (down over last week)
- Prowers: 5% (up over last week)
- Pueblo: 10.5% (down over last week)
- Rio Blanco: 4.5% (down over last week)
- Rio Grande: 6.1% (up over last week)
- Routt: 15% (down over last week)
- Saguache: 6.3% (down over last week)
- San Juan: Fewer than 10 tests in the past week
- San Miguel: 6.7% (up over last week)
- Sedgwick: 39% (up over last week)
- Summit: 20.4% (down over last week)
- Teller: 10.7% (down over last week)
- Washington: 5.9% (down over last week)
- Weld: 21.9% (up over last week)
- Yuma: 11.3% (down over last 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.