COVID In Colorado: December Hospitalizations Continue To Decline

DENVER (CBS4) - The number of people hospitalized with confirmed cases of COVID-19 continues to decline in Colorado. On Wednesday, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported 1,565 COVID-19 hospital patients, a decrease of 64 from Tuesday.

The state reports 40,346 people received a COVID-19 test on Tuesday. The daily positivity rate dropped from 12.41% on Monday to 9.26% on Tuesday. The 7-day average positivity rate was 11.71% on Tuesday.

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CDPHE reported a relatively large increase in COVID-19 deaths. The number of deaths among COVID-19 cases increased by 267 on Wednesday. Of those deaths, 149 were directly caused by the virus.

Colorado health officials said there are a couple of factors that can result in a large increase in the number of COVID-19 deaths reported to the state. These include a lag in the initial cause of death determination by medical certifiers and the registration of death certificates. There is also a lag in the processing of death certificates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC does not report death data to the state over the weekend.

"Given the increase in deaths nationwide, we understand that this lag has grown again potentially to several weeks as CDC processes Colorado's and other states' data," CDPHE said in a statement to CBS4. "This is often done in a 'batch' mode by state, which can result in large increases after periods of stagnant numbers. It's worth noting that not all of these newly-reported deaths occurred on the same day or even the same week, but may be counted among several weeks in the past."

CDPHE updates the COVID-19 data by date of death on the state's website. Officials said the graph provides a more meaningful picture of the deaths among cases.

COVID-19 Data as of 4 p.m. Wednesday:

Testing:

• 40,346 tests conducted on Dec. 8 with 11.71% positivity rate (7-day moving average)
• 9.26% daily positivity rate on Dec. 8

Hospital Data:

• 1,565 Patients currently hospitalized, 96% of facilities reporting (-64)
• 119 Patients under investigation for probable cases, not lab confirmed (-7)
• 205 Patients discharged/transferred in past 24 hours (-36)
• 28% Facilities anticipating staff shortages within next week (-2%)
• 1% Facilities anticipating PPE shortages within next week (+0%)
• 9% Facilities anticipating ICU bed shortages within next week (-1%)
• 47% Critical care ventilators in use (+2%)
• 79% of ICU Beds in use (373 available)

Case Summary:

• 272,346 cases (+3,757)
• 15,520 hospitalized (+63)
• 1,899,570 tested (+11,560)
• 3,591,797 test encounters (+40,346)
• 3,639 deaths among cases (+267)
• 2,933 deaths due to COVID-19 (+149)
• 2,526 outbreaks (+123)