DENVER (KDVR) — According to doctors at UCHealth, positive COVID cases are at the highest amount the state has seen all year, and hospitals and health care workers are slammed.
“I can tell you health care has never been busier than it is now in the entirety of the pandemic,” Dr. Richard Zane, the chief innovation officer and chief of emergency medicine at UCHealth said.
Zane said hospitals are not only dealing with COVID patients but also a multitude of other patients dealing with everyday illnesses, which is adding extra pressure to the already busy health care centers.
“We are seeing health care at the breaking point right now,” Zane said.
The main reason Colorado is seeing a spike in COVID cases, according to Zane is a combination of suspected reasons:
- People who were vaccinated early on are now reaching their six month mark since receiving the vaccine
- Weather is getting colder outside so people are closer together indoors
- Pockets of Colorado where vaccination rates are low
“We have 80% of people in Colorado with their first vaccine but we also have huge pockets that are 30% or 20% vaccinated and others that are 95%,” Zane said.
Governor Jared Polis, alongside Dr. David Brumbaugh the chief medical officer of Children’s Hospital Colorado presented three kids who received their vaccines on Friday.
“The vaccine is close to 100% effective for kids. I wish it was that effective for people in their 50s, 60s and 70s. It’s still 90% effective which is pretty good,” Polis said.
Zane hopes as more children get vaccinated, it’ll slow down the spread and take some weight off hospitals’ loads.
“By getting them vaccinated I hope it can stop them from being the vectors of spread,” Zane said.
