DENVER (KDVR) — The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s weekly coronavirus update is showing infection fears well-founded.
LINK: CDPHE coronavirus outbreak data
Over the last week, schools have been the single biggest source of COVID-19 outbreaks in the state. However, those outbreaks have not created large amounts of infections. Rather, they produced prompt quarantines.
The state tracked 25 new outbreaks since Sept. 9 from a variety of sources. Seven came from colleges and universities. Outbreaks took place at the University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado State University and Regis University.
This is the largest weekly outbreak rate yet seen from colleges and universities now that many have resumed in-person learning and on-campus living.
Two outbreaks came from K-12 schools and another two from child care centers. A cohort of 101 students and six staff members at Westminster High School were exposed last Friday, creating a total of 254 students required to quarantine.
Together, CDPHE tracks this category as higher education/K-12/child care. For the last two weeks running, outbreaks from these sources have been Colorado’s largest.
The numbers of lab-confirmed COVID-19 infected, however, still remains smaller than previous months.
Of the 25 outbreaks in the past week, only two rank in the 25 outbreaks that produced the most infections. Neither came from a school or a university.
Of the 50 outbreaks that produced the most confirmed infections, only one happened at a child care facility.