DENVER (KDVR) — Despite wastewater tests showing the BA.2 COVID-19 variant in Colorado, the newest data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment shows 0% of cases in the state are the stealth variant of omicron.
Data is delayed by two weeks due to the time required by the health department to complete genome sequencing of positive specimens. So the latest data is from the week of March 6, according to CDPHE.
The following communities found BA.2 present in wastewater on March 10:
- Boulder
- Broomfield
- Longmont
- Louisville
- Greeley, Town of Garden City
- Pueblo
- Northern Colorado Springs
- Colorado Springs
- Central Fort Collins
- Southern Fort Collins
- Aurora
- Littleton, Lone Tree and Englewood
- Berthoud
- Telluride
- Frisco
- Vail
At the end of February, nearly 8% of cases in Colorado were listed as the BA.2 variant. The March 6 report shows 100% of the cases in Colorado are BA.1, which is omicron, not BA.2, which is stealth omicron.
Last week, the World Health Organization said the BA.2 variant of omicron has become the dominant variant of the coronavirus around the world. The omicron subvariant now accounts for 75% of coronavirus cases globally.
The Denver Department of Public Health and Environment said they are not concerned about a surge in cases that we saw with previous COVID-19 variants.
Incidence rates have risen slightly in Colorado over the last week, according to data from CDPHE. However, the state’s current positivity rate is 2.66%.