DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado’s public health agency is looking for private help to take over aspects of managing the COVID-19 response. The question is: Is this a sign that the state’s getting ready to move from an emergency pandemic response to dealing with something more endemic, like the flu?
“You see a great desire amongst everyone to move forward and to move past this pandemic. It has obviously been an incredibly difficult two years and we all want to move on with our lives,” said Scott Bookman, the COVID-19 incident commander for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
The request for proposals says the state is looking for someone to identify triggers for different responses, establish the roles of non-governmental entities and set a timeframe to implement this.
“So we are looking at short-term and longer-term scenarios and starting to do some planning around how do you live with this virus in more of an endemic environment,” Bookman said. “What we do know is that we’re going to have to take an assessment of things here and really look at how we’ve provided services to this pandemic over the last several years and think about how do we start moving some of this work into the more traditional environments of the healthcare system.”
The document said the budget for planning this transition could be between $100,000-$170,000 and they are looking to start this as soon as Feb. 15. This plan also includes the option to move back to emergency mode if new dangerous variants pop up once again.
Moving on from the COVID emergency?
How does the public move on when COVID is still here? With CDPHE researching how to treat COVID as an endemic instead of a pandemic, the Problem Solvers asked University of Denver professor Dr. Phil Danielson what exactly that means.
“The watchword or the endemic phase of the disease is predictability, and that is something we have not found very much In this pandemic,” Danielson said. “And up to this point, the disease has been anything but predictable.”
Danielson runs the University of Denver’s saliva lab, their response to take the pulse of COVID on campus.
“The state’s doing the right thing by at least planning for the future. But ultimately, the virus is going to tell us when it gets to its endemic phase. I think there are certainly some encouraging signs in terms of how the virus has mutated to date,” Danielson said. “But do I think we’re out of the weeds yet? No. Not yet. And it may be months, it may be a year. But all we can say is at least it looks like we’re moving in the right direction. And that’s something we haven’t been able to say up until now.”
“What doesn’t kill you will mutate and try again,” Danielson said. “So vaccines are really our best defense. There could be another variant percolating somewhere around the world right now that’s not even on our radar yet.”
CDPHE statement
CDPHE addressed the state of the COVID response in Colorado:
“It is prudent to prepare for a variety of near- and long-term scenarios and we will continue to adjust our response as necessary based on science and data, as we have throughout the pandemic. Transitioning toward a healthcare system-centered response is part of a national discussion as officials across the country acknowledge that COVID-19 will be with us for the foreseeable future.
“For the past two years, we have responded to this pandemic, quickly scaling up testing sites, distributing vaccines, ensuring health care systems had the personal protective equipment they need, and protecting hospital capacity. In the beginning, we knew very little about this virus. We are in a different place now.
“We have ample vaccine and testing, increasing treatment options, and our health care providers are much more well-versed in caring for those who test positive for COVID-19. Disease transmission remains high, which could result in a much higher percentage of individuals who are either vaccinated or have some level of immunity after contracting COVID-19. If we continue on that path, we are likely to see a continued decline in new cases. We are cautiously optimistic, but disease transmission is likely to continue at some level for the foreseeable future. We are being prudent and planning ahead for a variety of possible scenarios. We must also be able to continue to quickly respond to periodic spikes in the virus that could threaten hospital capacity. We will continue to monitor disease transmission and hospital capacity and will make the decisions that best protect public health.
“We continue to learn about COVID-19 disease transmission, particularly in relation to new and emerging variants. We also know what can be done on an individual level to reduce the risk of severe illness and manage the effects of COVID-19 on our communities and we think it is prudent to plan for every future scenario.”
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment