Coloradans' COVID Immunity Combatting BA.2 Increase: Health Officials

COLORADO — COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have risen in Colorado over the past few weeks, but people's high level of immunity — from vaccinations and prior infection — is expected to help protect our state from a surge, public health officials said in a news conference Friday.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and Colorado School of Public Health released an updated statewide modeling report, which shows that the omicron variant BA.2 may cause an increase in cases and hospitalizations over the next three months. But the peak is expected to be lower than prior peaks, health officials said.

“We continue to believe there is a high level of community immunity and protection from severe disease in Colorado due to vaccination and prior infection, and this should help protect Colorado from a surge of severe illness,” said Dr. Rachel Herlihy, state epidemiologist with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

“However, the spread of the BA.2 variant may cause an increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations over the next few months.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House's chief medical adviser, estimated that BA.2 is around twice as infectious as the original omicron variant.

As of Friday, around 1 in 375 Coloradans were infected, health officials said.

"The best protection against all variants of COVID-19 is to get vaccinated with all recommended doses of the lifesaving COVID-19 vaccine," the state public health agency said in a news release.

"Anyone, regardless of vaccine status, who experiences symptoms should get tested immediately and isolate while waiting for test results."

>> Learn more about how to get vaccinated in Colorado here.