Photo by Liz Copan / Studio Copan
As other counties across the state struggle to roll out vaccination programs, Summit County is receiving praise for its approach to distribution.
At a Summit County Board of Health meeting Tuesday, Jan. 5, officials shared how the county’s drive-thru method for distributing the vaccine has received attention across the state and nationally.
Nicole Valentine, the county’s public health spokesperson, said a video about the drive-thru was picked up by 9News in Denver and shared nationally across NBC networks.
Aside from media coverage, officials are also hearing from neighboring counties looking to Summit for advice on vaccine distribution. The reason Summit County’s distribution has gone so well is because of the close partnership between the county’s public health and emergency management offices, officials said.
Fafay Grestan, an employee with the Family & Intercultural Resource Center in Silverthorne, carries food supplies in May for a drive-thru food bank. The resource center has seen a significant increase in the demand for the food bank due to the pandemic.
Photo by Jason Connolly / Summit Daily archives
In a difficult year, when so many people and organizations have sacrificed and given back to the community, The Summit Foundation had a different idea for its 2020 Philanthropy Awards. Rather than give out 10 or so awards to individuals and groups, why not give the award to the entire Summit County community after all it’s been through amid the pandemic?
Photo by Jason Connolly / Jason Connolly Photography
Summit County reported 114 new cases in the past week, according to the county’s coronavirus webpage
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The total number of cases now stands at 1,890. The total number of hospitalizations among residents since March 5 remains at 47. However, the county did report 14 hospitalizations among nonresidents over the week.
Although it remains in level red, Summit County’s two-week incidence rate continues to decline. As of Friday, Dec. 18, the county’s rate was at 861.8 new cases per 100,000 people, which is down 226.2 cases per 100,000 people since last week, according to the state’s dial dashboard
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The county’s testing positivity rate dropped over the week, as well. As of Friday, the positivity rate the percentage of positive tests out of all tests was at 8.3%, down 2% from last week. The positivity rate is now in level yellow on the state’s dial.
Coloradans love their big-box stores, but since the rise of COVID-19, those stores have sometimes stocked more than bargains. Many major retailers and grocers have already experienced novel coronavirus outbreaks, and more of them appear on the latest weekly update from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment which again includes over 200 fresh entries.
Walmart reports four new outbreaks across the state, while Home Depot has three in a single metro county.
The CDPHE considers an entity an outbreak after two or more COVID-19 cases among residents, staffers or other people connected to a specific location are confirmed within a fourteen-day period, or two or more cases of respiratory illness with an onset of symptoms within a fourteen-day period are paired with at least one additional COVID-19 diagnosis. The vast majority of businesses and facilities identified as outbreaks remain open, while working with the department to monitor symptoms and prevent future infect