90% of Coloradans estimated to be immune to Omicron variant
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - A few weeks ago in a press conference, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment predicted Colorado would reach 80 percent immunity against the Omicron variant of COVID-19 by mid-February. New modeling shows our immunity right now is actually even higher.
On Thursday the state health department announced 90 percent of Coloradans are now immune to Omicron and protected against severe disease. The percentage is a combination of those who've had the variant, and those vaccinated.
"We're really right around that 90 percent mark with the proportion of Coloradans that are currently immune to infection," said Dr. Rachel Herlihy, State Epidemiologist. "That's obviously great news for us moving forward, meaning that we anticipate the infection numbers to continue to decline over time. The projections go out to June and we do see evidence of waning immunity from these projections and that we will see this slow decrease in the level of immunity over time. But all the way up to June, those immunity levels stay pretty high. Again, this is, of course, impacted by the potential for a new variant."
In the latest weekly update from the state, they noted cases are steadily declining, there's been a clear drop in percent positivity, and hospitalizations are down too.
"In general, we continue to feel optimistic about the trends that we are seeing,” said Dr. Herlihy.
But while Colorado as a whole is 90 percent immune to Omicron, not every community has the exact same protection.
"The first thing to be aware of is that's obviously a state-level estimate," said Dr. Herlihy. "We know that our communities are not uniform across the state, so we are going to have communities where there are pockets of lower vaccination rates or places where fewer infections occurred. So the overall immunity level in certain communities is going to be less than it is in other parts of the state."
Right now experts still don’t know how long immunity lasts, and another variant could pop up at any time. Estimates are hoping we’ll have strong protection into June, but that’s not promised.
"We know that certain individuals are likely to see greater waning immunity than other individuals," said Dr. Herlihy. "So there might be some settings like long-term care facilities, for instance, where immunity could wane fast or risk could be greater. Despite the fact that overall this news is very promising, high level of community-level immunity, we still know that there are vulnerable people and that there can continue to be pockets of transmission and outbreaks that occur going forward. Strategies that we have used to protect vulnerable individuals will continue to be important."
Many communities have decided to drop mask mandates in the last week or so as case numbers have dropped off dramatically. On Thursday the state said at this point they still recommend wearing masks in indoor spaces, but as case numbers decline into March, that could change.
"We're moving to a spot of personal choice coming up," said Scott Bookman, COVID-19 Incident Commander for CDPHE. "I think into March we will still see high rates of disease that are coming down pretty dramatically. I'm going to wear a mask when I go into the grocery store. To me, that is the choice that I am going to make to keep myself and my family safe. I think we will continue to recommend that people make the choice that is best for them, best for their family. For those who are all up to date on their vaccine in their household, I think we're reaching a point where they are going to be able to go back to living their lives with a bit more normalcy. For people who work with vulnerable populations, we may still need to see more precaution in those groups. But things are changing rapidly and there is a lot of promise in the future here, we just need to work together as we get there."
