COVID-19 cases have continued to rise in Yuma County over the past week, including hitting the Yuma schools, and a Yuma County department to a lesser extent.
Yuma County had 33 active cases as of Thursday’s update on the Northeast Colorado Health Department’s new COVID-19 dashboard on its website, nchd.org. The confirmed cases jumped 10 on Wednesday and one more on Thursday, September 24. Yuma County now has 101 cumulative cases since the first confirmed case was announced on March 18.
The county has seen an increase of 26 cases in the last two weeks. Hospitalizations have dropped from three to one, as of Thursday’s update. There has been 490 tests in the 14 days, an increase of 391, including a significant increase in the last two days.
Importantly, the positivity rate has decreased to 5.4 percent.
Yuma District Hospital & Clinics Administrator Beth Saxton said testing is increasing based on symptoms and exposure to people with confirmed cases throughout the county. YDH & C is now offering free testing twice per day, 8 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 4 p.m. Please call 848-4712 to set up an appointment.
Wray Community Hospital reports that the majority of cases are asymptomatic or experiencing minor symptoms.
The Yuma County Sheriff’s Office has had two staffers in its patrol division test positive, though jail side remains free of cases. The Northeast Colorado Health Department has not classified it as an “outbreak.” It was explained that if some employees become ill due to exposure outside of work, and there is no transmission to other employees within the business, it is not classified as an outbreak.
Sheriff Todd Combs said his office has reenacted the COVID-19 protocols that were in place but had been recently relaxed, adding staff is working above and beyond CDC guidelines at this time.
“We have no one showing any symptoms associated with the virus at this time,” he told the Pioneer late last week. “We are again limiting services by the Sheriff’s Office available at the Courthouse and Jail, such as fingerprints, for this week till we figure out what is going on.”
The Yuma County Jail continues to isolate arrested individuals for two weeks before moved to the general population. They are monitored for symptoms during the two weeks.
Washington County has seen a jump of six new cases, with the Otis Public Schools closing to in-person learning until September 29, as more cases associated with the schools have continued over the past week. Washington County had seven active cases as of earlier this week. There has been an increase of 135 tests over a two-week period, with the positivity rate at 5.9 percent, increase of 4.4 percent.
Phillips County has seven new cases recently with a total of nine active cases as of earlier this week. The county’s testing has increased and the positivity rate has slightly increased to only 1.4 percent.
Logan County has seen 136 new cases over a two-week period, and had 150 active cases as of earlier this week. However, it has dropped from a high of 152 to 140 active cases as of Tuesday. Testing has increased by 154 over two weeks with a positivity rate of 6.3 percent, an increase of 3.5 percent.
