More than 10,000 people have died of COVID-19 in Colorado, roughly 21 months into the global pandemic.
The milestone came on the one-year anniversary of the first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine arriving in Colorado. State officials have said the vast majority of those still dying from COVID-19 are unvaccinated, though some people with immune systems weakened by health conditions or age have died from the virus despite getting inoculated.
Almost 69% of eligible Coloradans — those 5 and older — are fully vaccinated, with higher uptake in older age groups. More than 1.2 million people in Colorado have also received a booster shot.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 10,018 people had died from COVID-19 in Colorado, according to data from the state Department of Public Health and Environment. The number includes only those instances where the virus was ruled as one of the causes of death, and which occurred in-state. Between 200 and 300 of them may have been residents of other states who were transferred to Colorado hospitals and died there.
The current wave is Colorado’s second-deadliest so far, behind only the surge that began in fall 2020 and ended in late winter 2021. At the peak of that wave in early December 2020, 481 people died in a single week. The worst point so far of the current wave was the second week of November, when 256 people were lost.
The state passed 2,500 deaths due to COVID-19 in November 2020; 5,000 in February; and 7,500 in early September. Vaccines have been widely available to adults since early summer.
Despite the grim milestone, Colorado’s COVID-19 situation is starting to improve. Cases and the percentage of tests coming back positive are trending down. Hospitalizations also are dropping, though they’re still higher than during the first wave in spring 2020.
Generally, when hospitalizations start to fall, deaths follow a few weeks later. It’s difficult to be certain if that trend has started, because delayed reports mean that the public won’t know the final toll from this week until the end of the month, or possibly early January.
By some measures, Colorado has experienced less loss than most states.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed the state had the ninth-lowest rate of deaths compared to population in the country, with about 167 for every 100,000 people. (The CDC’s data comparing states lags slightly, but it’s unlikely Colorado’s ranking changed substantially in the last few days.)
