{"id":43914,"date":"2021-11-04T16:38:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-04T22:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/polis-says-onus-is-on-unvaccinated-with-death-wish-as-coronavirus-worsens\/"},"modified":"2021-11-04T22:38:00","modified_gmt":"2021-11-04T22:38:00","slug":"polis-says-onus-is-on-unvaccinated-with-death-wish-as-coronavirus-worsens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/polis-says-onus-is-on-unvaccinated-with-death-wish-as-coronavirus-worsens\/","title":{"rendered":"Polis says onus is on unvaccinated with \u2018death wish\u2019 as coronavirus worsens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Democratic
Democratic Gov. Jared Polis has rejected a request by Colorado's Republican congressional delegation to stop paying jobless residents $300 extra a week in federal pandemic relief. (Associated Press file)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A frustrated Colorado Gov. Jared Polis all but ruled out issuing a new statewide mask order to curb sharply rising coronavirus infections and hospitalizations this week, saying that the responsibility instead lies with those who are unvaccinated against the virus to protect themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe patience of most Coloradans is wearing very thin about why we should keep wearing masks just to protect the 20% of folks who haven\u2019t taken the simple step to protect themselves,\u201d the governor said Tuesday during a briefing with reporters.<\/p>\n

Colorado now has the fifth-highest coronavirus case rate in the country, according to federal data. An estimated 1 in 51 Coloradans are currently contagious with COVID-19 as people hospitalized with the disease has surpassed 1,200 \u2013 the highest level since December 2020. About 80% of people hospitalized in the state with COVID-19 are unvaccinated.<\/p>\n

There are fewer than 150 intensive care beds available statewide, and a 16-county region in Southwest Colorado on Tuesday reported 0% available ICU capacity, though that percentage can change quickly in the region\u2019s small hospitals.<\/p>\n

In response to the alarming trends \u2013 more than 2,600 new coronavirus infections are now being reported per day in Colorado, about a 600% increase from case rates in July \u2013 Polis over the weekend issued executive orders giving the state greater authority to direct transfers of patients between hospitals and also laying the legal groundwork for hospitals to ration care if they become overwhelmed.<\/p>\n

The state has also asked for federal emergency medical teams to come to Colorado to help with staffing shortages in the state\u2019s hospitals. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on Sunday ordered hospitals to suspend cosmetic surgeries in order to free up staff members and bed space; some hospitals have already gone further, delaying needed but non-emergency procedures.<\/p>\n

Asked Tuesday if he intended to issue more proactive orders to slow the spread of the virus, Polis balked. He said a statewide mask order isn\u2019t a substitute for vaccination. He said it\u2019s time for the unvaccinated to \u201cquit procrastinating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly 80% of people eligible for vaccination in Colorado have received at least one dose of vaccine. No one under the age of 40 who has been fully vaccinated has died of COVID-19 in Colorado, Polis said, and death rates are dramatically lower for vaccinated people in older age groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 20% that haven\u2019t yet chosen to get protected are putting themselves at risk \u2013 which you can certainly argue is their own business, and I have no qualm if they have a death wish \u2013 but they are clogging our hospitals,\u201d Polis said.<\/div>\n

While Colorado\u2019s current COVID-19 hospitalizations are about two-thirds of what they were during the state\u2019s winter surge last year, more people are now hospitalized in Colorado for other reasons \u2013 car accidents, heart attacks and issues caused by delayed medical care. The state\u2019s hospitals have not been more full during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Dr. Rachel Herlihy said modeling estimates predict hospitalizations will peak later this month or early next month and are not expected to exceed the state\u2019s capacity on the current trajectory. But, if virus transmission increases further, the state could see its hospital capacity breached.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you can see with the projections, it\u2019s going to be tight,\u201d Polis said. \u201cIt is tight, and it\u2019s going to be tight for the next several weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

of 51 Coloradans is estimated to be contagious with COVID-19<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[233,685,819,28,29,668,291],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-43914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-gov-jared-polis","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-public-health","tag-vaccines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43914"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=43914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}