New coronavirus infections and hospitalizations in Colorado continue to increase, with the state health department on Wednesday reporting another 452 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 respiratory disease.
Most of those new cases — 314 of them — were people who tested positive Tuesday, but more than 100 were added to last week’s count, bringing it to 1,942 cases. That’s compared to 1,749 cases the previous week, as the number of new cases increased for a third consecutive week, according to data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Colorado public health officials have said the jump in COVID-19 cases is the result of the state reopening and less social distancing. The state is also seeing more test results come back positive, meaning the rise in cases is not just due to more testing.
In total, 35,116 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus since March.
As of Wednesday, there were 184 people hospitalized in the state with COVID-19, up 11 people from the day before, according to the Colorado Hospital Association.
Hospitalizations, which began increasing last week for the first time in months, still remain well below the peak of 888 patients on April 14, and the Colorado Hospital Association reports no medical facilities anticipate a shortage of ICU beds within the next week.
Hospitalizations and deaths help provide insight into the severity of the pandemic. However, there is often a weeks-long lag in death certificate data.
As of Wednesday, two additional people had died from COVID-19. In total, 1,544 people have died from the disease in Colorado.
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