22 Sep 21
Residents and Family Members,
State continues discussion with health providers concerning mandatory vaccines. We received a letter from one of the local hospitals informing vaccination requirements and need to produce a vaccine card on demand after 1 Nov. I recently reviewed a rural hospital’s letter informing the state of potential elimination of services due to loss of staff based on current discussions with unvaccinated staff. We continue to inform and hire only those that are either vaccinated or have started the series prior to orientation. We do continue to have challenges in attracting applicants, but this has been an issue for the last 20 months.
Active outbreaks have increased to 18 active in the community with the two new outbreaks in health facilities. Daily positives have been trending up since the beginning of the month and 681 positives have been reported through 15 Sep while the rolling average for positive results for individuals tested in the last 7 days increased to 8.4% from 5.3% according to the county report. Parkview Hospital hospitalizations related to COVID is currently 34 cases while St Mary Corwin has 4 COVID case in their care. Parkview reported occupancy at 212 while St Mary Corwin is reporting 56 for occupancy. This leaves 17 available beds between the hospitals.
Reviewing CDC COVID data for Pueblo County, cases have dropped almost 2% in the last week. Positivity has shown a minimal increase with testing decreasing by 6.5%. New hospitalizations have decreased by 27.5% however beds in use remained the same with ICU bed usage increasing 2.2. Vaccinations for all county residents remains relatively unchanged at 51.7% of residents with one does and 46.8% fully vaccinated.
This letter is provided electronically either through email or our website. We do mail a copy the first week a new admit joins us if no email has been provided to share the information how to receive future copies via the website. If you are not receiving by email and would like to do so, let us know your address. Please contact the facilities with your questions.
Sincerely,
Keith Jackson
Keith Jackson
Executive Director
