When Can Colorado Safely Return To Normal? CU Study Sheds Light

Denver CO

28 April, 2021

6:49 PM

Description

Colorado is nearly halfway to safely returning to normal, according to the latest public health data and a University of Colorado study released Wednesday. At least 70 percent of Coloradans will need to get vaccinated against COVID-19 before the state can safely roll back all public health restrictions, CU researchers said. Around 30 percent of our state's population are fully immunized, according to the latest public health data. But some Coloradans are choosing to hold off on getting vaccinated, health officials say. "Everyone likes to talk about how we're almost there, that we're in the endgame," said the study's coauthor Andrea Buchwald, a research associate at the Colorado School of Public Health at CU Anschutz, in a statement. "But we have to make a shared decision as a society to get vaccinated if we want to get back to this idea of normal." Don't miss the latest news updates in Denver, Boulder, Arvada, Lakewood and Littleton. Sign up for free Patch news alerts and newsletters for what you need to know daily. CU Boulder and CU Anschutz Medical Campus researchers used state-of-the-art modeling tools to simulate how the pandemic might spread throughout the state over the next few months under different scenarios. The mathematical study balanced how Coloradans could potentially relax their precautions while also keeping people out of hospitals, researchers said. The study was published online while awaiting peer review.