CDPHE: Colorado COVID-19 Peak To Come In May Or Later

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment says the peak for COVID-19 in the state should come in May or later in the summer.

In a teleconference on Thursday, Incident Commander Scott Bookman said efforts to delay the peak, while allowing hospitals to prepare for a possible surge in patients, have worked.

"The updated information really leads us to believe that we have pushed the peak into May at least," Bookman said. "We're still trying to gather more accurate information to understand exactly when it will happen but the social distancing has worked and we have pushed that curve to the right as we hoped."

Bookman said right now, Colorado has enough ventilators but they are still preparing in case more are needed.

"At this point we have an excess of ventilators in the state," he noted. "We are still preparing to bring more ventilators in. We continue to expect to see a surge in patients in the coming weeks and we need to make sure our healthcare system is prepared for that."

Gov. Polis recently extended the state's stay-at-home order until April 26 and expressed confidence in being able to lift the order at that time if Coloradoans do indeed stay at home.

Whenever the order is lifted, people should expect some degree of social distancing to remain.

"Some social distancing measures will be necessary as we come out of the first wave," said Mike Willis, Director of the Office of Emergency Management for CDPHE. "We still need to change some of our habits. Whether we do it in some sort of official policy guidance or we just continue to ask people to behave differently than they did before COVID-19 came to our state, you can expect to be encouraged to continue social distancing for the foreseeable future."

The full teleconference is below, along with a rundown of questions/topics.

Thursday, April 9, 2020

CDPHE Rundown

Scott Bookman, Incident Commander

Mike Willis, Director of the Office of Emergency Management

TOPICS/QUESTIONS (in order):

--Luke, KUNC - When have data with demographic info. such as race?

--Taylor, NBC NewsRadio - Colorado Innovative Response Team and testing PPE

--Megan, KKTV - Have any info. on the employee at a Colorado Springs Costco that tested positive?

--Denver 7 - Cases in Routt county inflated?

--Mark - World Journal Newspaper - Have Crisis Standards of Care been enacted?

--Ben, CPR News - Is there an overriding metric that guides policy decisions?

--Luke, KUNC - Guidance for meat packing plants?

--Jensen, Denver Business Journal - Any solutions from the Innovative Response Team?

--Blair, Denver 7 - Are there refrigerated trucks at any sites?

--Taylor, NBC NewsRadio - Is the state looking at various ways to sterilize PPE?

--Chris, 9News - Has anyone else at CDPHE tested positive?

--Jensen, DBJ - What does the buildout of temporary hospitals look like?

--Gene, Col. Spr. Business Journal - FEMA funding for community testing sites

--Libby, CBS4 - What counties have had nursing home outbreaks?

--Ellis, Col. Comm. Media - Modeling and the peak

--Chris, 9News - Stall in testing numbers

--Libby, CBS4 - Are there enough ventilators in Colorado?

--Lilly, KUNC - When does the state project the peak to be?

--Blair, Denver 7 - Are there cases in every Colorado county?

--Libby, CBS4 - How many people are actually infected?

--Jesse, Col. Sun - How know infection data if there limited testing?

--Jim, AP - Strategies to get PPE

--Ellis, Col. Comm. Media - HOw long expect social distancing to last after stay-at-home order is lifted?

--Chris, 9News - More details on other potential cases in CDPHE?

--John, Col. Ind. - Any confirmed cases in halfway houses?

--Lucy, KGNU - When can workers return?

--Jesse, Col. Sun - How know trends without testing?

--Brian, BARN - Has CDPHE sent guidance to senior living centers?

--Jim, AP - How much has state spent to acquire PPE?

--Lucy, KGNU - Do we anticipate more than one wave of COVID-19?

--Lucy, KGNU - Could long extension of stay-at-home kill the virus?

--John, Col. Ind. - When will Coloraod get the 100 ventilators the President promised?

--Patricia, Kiowa County Ind. - How many healthcare workers have been affected?