Huge Advances In Therapy And Treatment In Colorado 2 Years After First COVID Case

DENVER (CBS4) - Saturday marked two years since the first confirmed COVID-19 case in Colorado.

Since March 2020, Colorado has reported more than 1.3 million cases and more than 12,000 deaths. Now, experts say we're also more informed and better protected, largely because of the COVID-19 vaccine, which more than 4 million Coloradans have received at least one dose of.

"It's a great understatement to say that it's been a long 2 years," said Scott Bookman, the state's COVID-19 Incident Commander.

From shutdowns and new variants to the rush to get vaccinated, the COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented experience. Now 2 years later, there's hope for normalcy.

"We're at a point now where we have a large level of immunity across our state," Bookman said.

Since before Colorado's first confirmed case, Bookman has been among those calling the shots. While testing and surveillance were major challenges early on, he says the state now has a solid framework.

"We have 150 community testing sites across our state. We have the ability to do more than 50,000 tests per day," Bookman said. "We have come so far over the last two years in testing, in data, in information and our public communications."

The trick moving forward will be scaling that and other systems up and down as needed, said Dr. Lisa Miller, a professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health.

"We've made huge advances as far as therapy and treatment for COVID-19, vaccines for COVID-19, the way we monitor it," Miller said.

"We can hope that we don't have a future wave or future surge, but I think we definitely have to plan for a future wave or surge."

More than a year after the COVID-19 vaccine became more widely available, racial gaps in vaccination rates remain a concern of some.

Miller said the state should also prioritize replenishing the workforce in health care.

"We have stressed people, we have lost people during the pandemic, who've taken other jobs, so I think maintaining the workforce and making sure we have a resilient workforce, and we have a pathway to bring other people into this workforce, to do this really vital work, is really a challenge and really important," she said.

According to Bookman, that's part of what the state calls its "Roadmap to Moving Forward."

The plan, laid out by Gov. Jared Polis out a week ago, includes strengthening the health care workforce, improving hospital readiness and surge planning, and investing in the health system.

"I think as we look forward, we need to make sure that all of this surge capacity that we have built over the last two years is maintained," Bookman said.

"Now, the majority of Coloradans have the opportunity to go forward and know that we will be working behind the scenes for whatever may come."