Active COVID-19 cases in schools nearly equal to combined resolved school cases to date
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — The number of active COVID-19 cases in El Paso County K-12 schools right now nearly equals all resolved school cases over the last 14 months combined.
According to data from El Paso County Public Health’s COVID-19 dashboard, there are 396 active COVID-19 cases in schools across the county. It doesn’t fall too short of the 488 resolved COVID-19 cases in schools from March 2020 to date.
Rising child infection rates are a trend health officials report statewide. It prompted Colorado’s top doctors to address parents on Thursday.
“We need to see increased vaccination rates among those individuals to protect them from infection,” said Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy. “And also for those younger populations that are not yet eligible for vaccination, it’s important that parents continue to take precautions for those younger children to protect them from infection.”
Despite some dips in COVID-19 hospitalizations this spring, the rolling hospitalization average in El Paso County is about the same as five months ago, before vaccines were widely available to the public. Dr. Herlihy brought attention specifically to kids and youth in the state.
“If you look at the numbers here for April, for Colorado’s pediatric hospitalizations, you’ll see that that number isn’t too far behind that number that we saw in our fall wave of illness,” said Herlihy.
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