January 2021

COVID MODELING UPDATE

Today, Governor Polis provided an update on the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was joined by Dr. Rachel Herlihy, State Epidemiologist, who shared an update to the state’s modeling.

The Governor and the State of Colorado are thankful for all of the staff and medical providers who are working to help their community and protect Coloradans from this deadly virus. Since the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine, it’s more important than ever that Coloradans remain vigilant.

Findings from the latest epidemiologic and modeling data show:

There are early signs of an increase after the holidays;
Hospitalizations remain high;
However, infection rates are down from their peak due to the efforts of Coloradans;
An estimated 1 in 105 Coloradans are currently contagious; and
Decreased COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths will occur with the vaccine rollout in Colorado, but masks and social distancing will continue to have a larger impact for several months.

The Governor noted that yesterday was the deadliest day of this pandemic in the United States to date. 3,685 Americans died yesterday due to the virus, and the toll is more than 364,000 nationally. This goes to show why it’s crucial that Coloradans continue to keep up the good work by wearing masks, keeping 6 feet of distance from others, and only spending time with members of their immediate household.

VACCINATING COLORADANS 70+

Coloradans 70 and older are now part of Phase 1B in the state’s vaccination distribution plan, and in many parts of our state, these Coloradans have access to vaccines. This group represents 78% of deaths due to COVID-19 in Colorado.

Governor Polis shared that the state will be distributing its share of the vaccine across different kinds of healthcare providers to reach the goal of vaccinating 70% of Coloradans 70 and older by February 28.

The following supply allocations will help distribute the vaccine to providers across our state to ensure the vaccine is being administered efficiently and equitably:

Hospitals: 50%
Federally Qualified Health Centers: 20%
Community Partners and Local Public Health Agencies: 20%
Retail Pharmacies: 10%

Coloradans 70 and older should visit covid19.colorado.gov/for-coloradans/vaccine/vaccine-for-coloradans to find links to contact providers like UCHealth, Denver Health, and Centura for information about how to get the vaccine.

VACCINE PROVIDER RESOURCES FOR COLORADANS 70+

Many of the major hospitals in our state are conducting outreach to get Coloradans 70 and older vaccinated and can find information for contacting major hospital providers below:

UC Health

UCHealth is using My Health Connection, their online patient portal, to communicate with patients. If you do not have an active My Health Connection account or are new to UCHealth, sign up to be placed on a list to receive the COVID-19 vaccine when it is available for your phase, according to the state’s plan.

Visit mychart.uchealth.org/mhcweb/register.aspx.

Denver Health

Denver Health is currently working to contact and make appointments with patients age 70+ who are receiving care at a Denver Health facility or have received care in the past three years. Invitations are now being sent by MyChart to schedule these vaccinations.

Visit denverhealth.org/patients-visitors/coronavirus. Instructions to create a MyChart account can be found at denverhealth.org/mychart.

Centura Health

Centura patients will receive an invitation through the MyCenturaHealth patient portal when it is their turn to get the vaccine. Invitations will be sent based on the phased distribution plan, starting with Coloradans age 70+. You need to have an appointment as Centura is not currently taking walk-ins.

Starting next week, Centura is expecting to be able to vaccinate more than 9,000 individuals per day, building up to more than 20,000 per day by the end of February.

To expand capacity, they will also be standing up more than 16 community-based vaccination sites (increasing to 20 in two weeks) at existing physician clinics and urgent care centers in Canon City, Colorado Springs, Denver, Durango, and Pueblo.

Visit centura.org/covid-19/covid-19-vaccine-information.

Banner Health

Depending on where you live, Banner Health has sign-up forms for each of their locations in Weld, Larimer, Logan, and Morgan counties. Banner Health asks patients to take a survey to determine eligibility, and then schedule an appointment online.

Visit these sites based on location to sign-up:

Kaiser Permanente

For Kaiser Permanente members age 70+ (and others eligible in Phase 1A and 1B).

Visit kp.org/covidvaccine to complete the “COVID-19 Vaccine Sign-Up.”

Vail Health

Visit vailhealth.org/covid-19/vaccines to make an appointment and see their clinic schedule.

Boulder Community Health

Boulder Community Health is contacting current patients age 70+ on an ongoing basis to encourage them to schedule a vaccination. All vaccination notification and scheduling will be done through the MyBCH patient portal, a secure online connection to that organization.

To set up an account, visit my.bch.org/MyChartPRD/signup (you do not need to be a current BCH patient to establish a MyBCH account).

SCL Health

SCL Health is currently contacting patients age 70+ who are currently receiving care at a SCL Health facility. Information is being emailed to these patients guiding them to use the MyChart online patient portal to make a vaccination appointment.

Visit sclhealth.org/covidvaccine or call 303-812-2051 for details.

Salud

Salud vaccinated 830 on Wednesday and 950 individuals yesterday alone. By next week they will have the capacity to vaccinate more than 1,000 individuals a day with plans to continue to increase access to vaccines. Next week they will host a vaccination clinic in Aurora.

Salud focuses on low-income, medically underserved populations, as well as the migrant and seasonal farmworker population. You don’t have to be an established patient to get the vaccine at one of their clinics.

The Governor thanks all of the staff and medical providers at Salud, and community health partners across Colorado, who are working to help their community and protect Coloradans from this deadly virus.

‌

Visit Website