September was a rough month in the San Luis Valley for COVID-19. The Delta variant continues to be widespread and cases continue to climb.

Because community transmission is very high, Public Health encourages everyone to take precautions including but not limited to wearing a mask in public indoor spaces, staying home if you are sick, and getting vaccinated if you have not already done so.

Here are some of the latest SLV indicators: 

  • On September 29th, the region’s 7-day average reached 36 new cases per day, which exceeded the previous record of 34 cases per day set back on December 18, 2020. 
  • September 2021 had the highest number of COVID-19 hospital admissions in the SLV since the beginning of the pandemic. 
  • Last week, 33% of new COVID-19 cases in the SLV were 18 and under. 
  • Five new fatalities have been reported since the beginning of last week. 

Are vaccines helping? Yes. In September, there were 542 cases among unvaccinated or partially vaccinated residents, and 112 cases among fully vaccinated residents. The most recent data in Colorado shows that fully vaccinated people are 4.9 times less likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than those who are unvaccinated. There are now 22,185 San Luis Valley residents who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. 

There have been a total of 5,378 known cases of COVID-19 in SLV since the pandemic began. There are currently 272 known active cases of COVID-19 in the SLV. 

  • Alamosa County – 94
  • Conejos County – 38
  • Costilla County – 11
  • Mineral County – 9
  • Rio Grande County – 87
  • Saguache County – 33

If you have symptoms, you should get tested immediately and isolate while you are waiting for test results. Those with known exposure should also stay home for the duration of their quarantine. Routine preventative testing (also known as surveillance testing) is another way to identify cases early and slow the spread of the virus. Colorado’s free at-home testing program is open to all Coloradans. Participants sign up online at https://covid19.colorado.gov/covid-19-testing-at-home to order eight tests which they can use to test themselves or their child twice a week for four weeks.

[Please note, over the counter negative test results may not be accepted as proof of negative results for some situations (travel, return to learn, employer mandated testing etc). In those instances, testing should be conducted at a proctored testing site such as a school, hospital, clinic, or state mobile testing clinic.]