Delta Variant Update In Colorado: Nearly 800 New Cases Reported

The delta variant continues to spread rapidly in Colorado — nearly 800 new cases have been reported over the past week, state public health data shows.

Early studies show the delta variant is more infectious — it has around double the hospitalization rate of the alpha variant, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

More than 2,473 cases of the variant have been reported in 48 counties in our state, public health data shows.

The coronavirus vaccine is effective against the delta variant, particularly two weeks after both doses are received, public health officials said.

The delta variant has hit Mesa County the hardest — around 842 cases have been reported in the county, the data shows.

Delta variant cases reported in each county:

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1. Mesa - 842
2. El Paso - 493
3. Arapahoe - 144
4. Garfield - 98
5. Moffat - 98
6. Boulder - 90
7. Jefferson - 89
8. Douglas - 77
9. Adams - 68
10. Weld - 55
11. Denver - 53
12. Larimer - 45
13. Pueblo - 39
14. Archuleta - 27
15. Fremont - 27
16. La Plata - 27
17. Conejos - 20
18. Summit - 20
19. Montrose - 17
20. Gunnison - 16
21. Delta - 15
22. Rio Blanco - 14
23. Montezuma - 13
24. Routt - 13
25. Broomfield - 8
26. Elbert - 8
27. Saguache - 8
28. Las Animas - 7
29. Teller - 7
30. Pitkin - 5
31. San Miguel - 5
32. Alamosa - 3
33. Eagle - 3
34. Chaffee - 2
35. Gilpin - 2
36. Morgan - 2
37. Otero - 2
38. Bent - 1
39. Clear Creek - 1
40. Custer - 1
41. Grand - 1
42. Kit Carson - 1
43. Logan - 1
44. Ouray - 1
45. Park - 1
46. Rio Grande - 1
47. Sedgwick - 1
48. Washington - 1

“Delta will certainly accelerate the pandemic” around the world, F. Perry Wilson, a Yale Medicine epidemiologist, said in a statement.

The delta variant, which was first seen in India and was first detected in the United States in March, spreads 50 percent faster than the alpha variant that originated in Great Britain, which itself spreads 50 percent faster than the original coronavirus strain, according to Yale Medicine.

Dr. Rachel Herlihy, state epidemiologist with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and Gov. Jared Polis held a roundtable with local officials in Grand Junction in late June to discuss the spread of the Delta variant. State public health officials and a CDC team traveled to Mesa County to investigate the spread and offer technical support.