Colorado Officials In Talks To Add New Level To COVID-19 Dial

As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations surge across Colorado, state officials have been in talks about adding a new level to the dial that rates Colorado's COVID-19 status.

According to the Denver Post, the proposed level of restrictions would be added just below the highest, stay-at-home level.

The Denver Post adds that it is unclear what the new level of restrictions would entail, as the details haven’t been finalized - but one thing that's for sure is that the designation won’t be as restrictive as the stay-at-home order Gov. Polis issued back in March.

Gov. Polis and local officials have been hesitant to re-issue stay-at-home orders in the state - but out of major concern towards a 2nd wave of this pandemic, officials are running out of options to ease the surge of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

On Monday (Nov. 16), an additional 107 Coloradans were hospitalized with confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the last recorded total from Saturday (Nov. 14) - bringing the total number of state hospitalizations to 1,294.

To compare, on the worst day in April, there were 1,277 people hospitalized with confirmed and suspected COVID-19 cases combined.

As of Monday (Nov. 16), 34 counties in Colorado were in the orange level, which is just below the stay-at-home level. Under stay-at-home restrictions, most businesses can only operate at 25% of capacity.

There were only 12 counties in the state that weren't placed under red level restrictions, in regards to the number of new COVID-19 cases - which means that in 52 counties, there are more than 350 cases per 100,000 people.

Data from the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment website shows that since the beginning of the pandemic, 167,713 people in Colorado have tested positive for COVID-19, 11,203 have been hospitalized, and 2,276 people have died from COVID-19.

An announcement regarding the new proposed level is expected Tuesday (Nov. 17).