Omicron Comprises More Than 90% Of New COVID-19 Infections In Colorado

By Faith Miller, Colorado Newsline

December 29, 2021

The omicron variant of COVID-19 comprises at least 91% of new infections in Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis said at a virtual news conference Wednesday. That estimate, based on laboratory analysis, is up from 1% just two weeks ago — showing how quickly the variant is spreading in the state.

“If you get COVID, there’s a very high chance that it’s omicron variant right now,” Polis said.

Against the backdrop of a rapid increase in infections across the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines on quarantine and isolation, which the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment adopted Monday. The guidelines call for a five-day isolation period, down from 10 days, for people who test positive for COVID-19 but don’t have symptoms.

Dr. Eric France, the state’s chief medical officer, said the new federal guidelines make sense because of the shorter incubation time for the omicron variant as compared with earlier variants of COVID-19.

If you’d been exposed to the alpha variant at a Christmas party, France said, symptoms would occur six to seven days later, around New Year’s Eve. For the delta variant, the symptoms would show up about four days after exposure. But with omicron, the incubation period is as short as one to three days.

“If I was exposed to omicron on Christmas Day, I likely would have had my symptoms on Tuesday,” France said.

An average of 3,828 new cases of COVID-19 were reported each day in Colorado from Dec. 21 through Dec. 27, according to data from CDPHE. That’s nearly double the previous week’s daily average of 1,929 new cases. Approximately 14% of tests are coming back positive — a sharp increase in the positivity rate that suggests many cases are going undetected.

Polis, a Democrat, touted Colorado’s 150 free community testing sites across the state, many of which also offer vaccines. A few of those sites include:

Denver:

• 5th Street Garage – Auraria Campus, 955 Lawrence Way; Monday through Friday; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• 16th Street Mall, 1600 California St.; Monday through Friday; 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• All City Stadium South, 1495 S. Race St.; Monday through Friday; 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Colorado Springs:

• Chapel Hills Mall, 1710 Briargate Blvd.; daily; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Citadel Mall, 680 Citadel Dr. E.; daily; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Mission Medical, 2125 E. LaSalle St.; Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Aurora:

• Aurora Center for Active Adults – Del Mar, 30 West Del Mar Circle; daily; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Aurora Public Schools Professional Learning Office, 15771 E. First Ave.; Monday through Friday; 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Instructional Support Facility, 5416 S. Riviera Way; Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.; every other Saturday from 7 a.m. to noon

Fort Collins:

• Timberline Church, 2908 S. Timberline Road; Monday through Friday; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Lakewood:

• 260 S. Kipling St.; Tuesday and Thursday; 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Colorado also offers free, rapid, at-home COVID-19 tests to people who request them online.

Democracy functions only when people have access to reliable information about government and society. Colorado Newsline’s mission is to be a trusted source of such information. Newsline is nonprofit, nonpartisan and independent, and it provides fair and accurate reporting on politics, policy and other stories of interest to Colorado readers