NOTE: This is the live blog from Saturday and Sunday, April 4 and 5. Click here for the live blog from Monday, April 6.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Colorado continues to rise as hospitalizations and deaths follow the same upward trend. At last check, the number of people who have succumbed to the virus has reached 140, while 924 people have been hospitalized. There have been 4,950 positive cases as of 4 p.m. Sunday.
READ MORE: List of Colorado businesses that are open
Click here for the latest update on the number of cases, the age, gender and location of presumptive positive, indeterminate and confirmed cases from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Below, we're updating this blog with the latest information regarding COVID-19 in Colorado.
Latest updates:
Sunday, April 5
4:06 p.m. | Death toll at 140 as number of cases increase by 385
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment released an updated summery of COVID-19 in Colorado Sunday. The number of cases of the novel coronavirus in Colorado increased by 385, with the CDPHE announcing 4,950 people had tested positive as of 4 p.m. Sunday.
A total of 49 more people were hospitalized, bringing the total of hospitalizations to 924. State health officials said 140 people have now died from the disease, an increase of 14 from Saturday’s numbers.
The new virus is also now present in 54 of Colorado's 64 counties. The CDPHE said 1,873 more tests had been received by the state, bringing the total number of people who have been tested for COVID-19 to 25,773.
State health and government officials believe there could be between 12,000 and 33,000 cases of COVID-19 in Colorado, but are prioritizing testing for those who are most at-risk
3:23 p.m. | Colorado releases COVID-19 modeling data
Colorado released additional COVID-19 modeling data to the public Sunday. Gov. Jared Polis first provided an analysis of the data during a press conference on March 27. The state said it will continue to review data as it evolves to inform future policy decisions.
MORE | Model R0 3.5 4.0 with SD 0 to 80
MORE | Model R0 3.0 4.0 SD 0 to 60
The modeling data was produced by an expert team that the Colorado School of Public Health (ColoradoSPH) assembled to assist the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) in understanding the potential course of the pandemic in Colorado.
2:57 p.m. | UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson hospitalized with virus
(AP) British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was diagnosed with the coronavirus more than a week ago, has been admitted to a hospital for tests. Johnson’s office said he was hospitalized Sunday because he still has symptoms 10 days after testing positive for the virus. Downing St. said it was a “precautionary step” and he remains in charge of the government. Johnson, 55, has been quarantined in his Downing St. residence since being diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 26.
1:11 p.m. | Navy captain fired after blowing whistle tests positive for COVID-19
The now fired captain of the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt has tested positive for COVID-19, the New York Times reported on Sunday. The New York Times cited two Naval Academy classmates of Crozier’s who are close to him and his family.
11:13 a.m. | U.S. 'wasted' months before preparing for virus pandemic
(AP) The first alarms sounded in early January that the outbreak of a novel coronavirus in China would ignite a global pandemic. But the Trump administration squandered nearly two months that could have been used to bolster the federal stockpile of critically needed medical supplies and equipment. Purchasing contracts reviewed by The Associated Press show that federal agencies waited until mid-March to begin placing bulk orders of N95 respirator masks, mechanical ventilators and other equipment needed by front-line health care workers. Now, the national stockpile is nearly drained just as the nu
9:51 a.m. | Worker at Colorado emergency center tests positive for virus
(AP) State officials say a member of Colorado's Unified Command Group at the State Emergency Operations Center in Centennial just outside of Denver has tested positive for the coronavirus. The Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management says the worker tested positive on Saturday. Spokeswoman Micki Trost says staffers who determine they worked in the same area in the last 48 hours are being told to self-quarantine. Trost says medical screenings of staff are being increased from once daily to twice a day. Colorado has 4,565 confirmed cases and 126 deaths because of the virus, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally on Sunday morning.
9:49 a.m. | Surgeon general warns US of `saddest week' and `9/11 moment'
(AP) Surgeon General Jerome Adams is offering some of the starkest warnings yet as he braces Americans for the worsening fallout from the new coronavirus. He says in a television interview Sunday that “this is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans’ lives, quite frankly.” The number of people infected in the U.S. has exceeded 300,000, with the death toll climbing past 8,400. Adams tells ``Fox News Sunday'' that ”this is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment, only it’s not going to be localized."
8:56 a.m. | Denver shuts down 4 streets to give pedestrians more social distance space
On Saturday, Denver shut down traffic on four streets, turning them over to pedestrians so they'd have more room to spread out. The city closed 11th Avenue from Lincoln Street east to Humboldt, Byron Place from Zenobia to Stuart Street, Stuart Street from 21st to 24th Avenue, and 16th Avenue from Lincoln Street to Park Esplanade.
Saturday, April 4
5:38 p.m. | Employee at Cherry Creek Whole Foods store tests positive for COVID-19
An employee at the Whole Foods location in Denver's Cherry Creek neighborhood has tested positive for COVID-19, the grocer confirmed Saturday. The employee is in quarantine, and the store performed an additional cleaning and disinfection.
5:32 p.m. | Trump says 'toughest' weeks ahead as coronavirus spreads
(AP) President Donald Trump is warning that the county would see a lot of death ahead as the U.S. moves into what into what he says is its “toughest” weeks with the coronavirus. At the same time the president is expressing growing impatience with social distancing guidelines and saying he’s eager to get the country reopened and its stalled economy back on track. The number of people infected in the U.S. has exceeded 300,000, with the death toll climbing past 8,100; more than 3,500 of those deaths are in the state of New York.
4:10 p.m. | COVID-19 deaths in Colorado on the rise, reaching 126 on Saturday
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment released an updated summery of COVID-19 in Colorado Saturday. The number of cases of the novel coronavirus in Colorado increased by 392, with the CDPHE announcing 4,565 people had tested positive as of 4 p.m. Saturday.
A total of 52 more people were hospitalized, bringing the total of hospitalizations to 875. State health officials said 126 people have now died from the disease, an increase of 15 from Friday’s numbers.
The new virus is also now present in 54 of Colorado's 64 counties. The CDPHE said 1,829 more tests had been received by the state, bringing the total number of people who have been tested for COVID-19 to 23,900.
State health and government officials believe there could be between 12,000 and 33,000 cases of COVID-19 in Colorado, but are prioritizing testing for those who are most at-risk
1:01 p.m. | Airlines parking their planes at DIA
As air travel comes to a screeching halt amid the COVID-19 outbreak, airlines are having to find space to park their planes. Denver International Airport tweeted photos Saturday, showing several grounded planes parked at the airport.
“Looking forward to when we see these tails back in the air. In the meantime, we’re here for essential travels needs, like cargo operations, and we hope everyone else is staying safe at home,” the tweet read.
DIA was seeing record-passenger traffic month after month before the virtual shutdown due to coronavirus concerns.
12:47 p.m. | Gov. Cuomo: China sending 1,000 ventilators to New York
(AP) New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said China is sending 1,000 ventilators to his state, as he tries to build capacity to deal with a growing number of coronavirus patients. The number of people infected in the U.S. has now exceeded a quarter-million, with the death toll climbing past 7,000. Cuomo said Saturday that more than 3,500 of those deaths are in New York state. As the number of people infected has grown to more than 1.1 million worldwide, health care systems are straining under the surge of patients, and scrambling for supplies.
11:30 a.m. | Polis, state officials urge Congress to include billions in local aid
Governor Jared Polis and other state officials are urging Congress to include at least $500 billion toward state and local aid in the next stimulus package. In a letter Saturday, Gov. Polis and members of the state delegation write:
“As you look toward the Phase 4 stimulus package, we stand united as state and local partners on the front lines of this crisis, urging you to include at least $500 billion in direct, robust and immediate State and local aid. Absent this assistance, the State of Colorado and local governments who are directly helping Colorado’s communities respond and recover from the impacts of this public health crisis, will face an unmitigated economic crisis."
Read the full letter here.
9:24 a.m. | Hunt for medical supplies creates marketplace of desperation
(AP) Intense global demand to get protective equipment for doctors and nurses on the front lines of the coronavirus battle is prompting states and hospitals to compete against themselves in a shady marketplace where prices are soaring. State governors across the U.S. have been pressing unsuccessfully for the federal government to centralize the process and stop the competition between states, their own hospital systems, other countries and the federal government itself.
Click here for the live blog from Friday, April 3, 2020.
