Polis minimizes omicron threat on ABC

Gov. Jared Polis brushed off concerns about the omicron variant’s presence in Colorado during an appearance Sunday on ABC’s national news program “This Week.”

Two omicron cases have been identified in Colorado, according to the state health department. The first case was confirmed Thursday in an Arapahoe County woman, followed by a Boulder County man on Friday. Both patients had recently traveled to southern Africa.

Polis said he wasn’t “terribly alarmed” by the variant’s arrival in Colorado. The cases made Colorado the third U.S. state to confirm the virus’ presence. As of Sunday, the omicron variant has spread to at least 15 states, according to U.S. health officials.

“It is not yet at a level of community transmission in Colorado that we’re picking it up,” Polis said on Sunday. “We have a few isolated cases, but we do regular wastewater screenings and it has not come up in that. We also screen around 15 to 20% of our tests. … If we had a high level of community transmission, we would know it.”

Polis repeated his plea for Coloradans to get vaccinated against COVID-19 to prevent the transmission of the virus. The governor has refused to implement statewide mask and social distancing mandates in previous weeks as Colorado’s COVID-19 rates have risen.

The number of Coloradans hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 infections hit 1,576 two weeks ago — the highest peak this year and the second-highest since the pandemic began, according to state data. This comes as 67.56% of eligible residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, up from the 59.8% national vaccination rate.

Polis defended his emphasis on vaccinations Sunday, saying over 1,130 of the 1,368 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the state are unvaccinated.

“The most effective way to prevent omicron, or any variant, is simply to get vaccinated and then to get boosted six months later,” Polis said. “Because of our higher-than-average vaccination rate here in Colorado, our delta wave didn’t peak at the same level of hospitalizations as it did in some other states that have lower vaccination rates.”

Both of Colorado’s omicron patients were fully vaccinated against COVID-19; however, neither were confirmed to have gotten the booster shot, state officials said. Polis said both patients are doing fine and experiencing mild symptoms.

The latest variant could push Colorado hospitals to capacity as nearly 95% of ICU beds are now occupied, according to state data. However, only about 15 to 20% of those beds are taken by COVID-19 patients, Polis said.

Polis said officials do not know enough about the variant to warrant panic, saying he is waiting for information about whether the variant is more contagious, causes more severe symptoms or is more resistant to the vaccine than previous strains of the virus.

“I think what we’re all looking for at this point is what characteristics the omicron variant has that are different,” Polis said. “We simply don’t have answers on these questions today, but I expect that we will in the next few weeks.”