“I’m proud that Colorado has the sixth-lowest COVID-19 rates in the country, but in order to lower that even further and effectively end this pandemic, our state must always have a comprehensive approach to combating this virus,” said Governor Polis.
— from an email message for the Governor’s Office, September 21, 2021.
There’s so much depressing news out there, lately, that I was uplifted by Governor Jared Polis’ encouraging letter, noting that he’s proud that Colorado has the sixth lowest COVID-19 rates in the country.
I will definitely be sharing in his pride.
He and I were not always so proud, of course. There were times, let me tell you. Like last November, when Colorado was seeing a positivity rate of more than 12%, and we were counting more than 4,000 new cases a day.
Neither the Governor nor myself had a lot of prideful feelings, last November.
And I don’t want either of us to get boastful about the current situation, regardless of whether we will be running for re-election, or not. (Let’s quash that rumor right now. I am not running for re-election.)
And to be completely honest — which I usually try to be — even though Colorado has the sixth-lowest rates in the country, the rates aren’t exactly what you would call “wonderful”.
Here’s a September 21 chart from the Colorado Department of Public Health, showing the current situation. Looks to me like the 7-day incidence rate is worse than last April.
To put these incidence numbers into a geographic focus, here’s another graphic from CDPHE, which doesn’t leave Colorado looking so great.
But pride is a relative thing. The Governor and I can be proud of the above mostly-red map by simply comparing Colorado’s situation to, for example, Florida.
Florida doesn’t even publish a map. Too embarrassing. Nor do they claim to be proud.
At the risk of seeming unreasonably proud, I note that Archuleta County is doing better than most of Colorado, as shown by the orange color. And Hinsdale and Mineral County are doing even better than Archuleta County, which is partly because almost hardly anyone wants to live there, and anyway, they do most of their shopping here in Pagosa Springs. So, if you don’t mind, I am going to feel proud about Hinsdale and Mineral, as well.
I’ve been fascinated by maps, ever since I was a Boy Scout, and I found an interactive map yesterday on USAFacts.org, dated September 20, 2021. It purports to show the cases, per 1000,000 population, in every county in the US.
I’m not sure if the Governor has been checking this map regularly, but he probably should.
The color key is at the bottom, going from very pale green to very dark green. Rich County, in northernmost Utah, and Chattahoochee County in western Georgia, appear to be having a rough time.
I initially felt disappointed, looking at this map, because it seems to show that Colorado is doing pretty much the same as everywhere else. Actually, most of Nebraska seems to be doing better than we are. So maybe Nebraska is also proud.
But COVID, like pride, is not evenly distributed. Bent County, Colorado has been relatively hard hit, by both confirmed cases and by COVID fatalities.
Here’s the comparison with Archuleta County. The total number of cases don’t look so great, when you’re counting everyone since last spring, but it turns out that last week, Archuleta County had only 25 weekly cases per 100,000, which is one of the lowest incidence rates in the whole state of Colorado.
Go, Archuleta County! Go! Fight! Win!
I am especially proud of Archuleta County, for how well we did last week. I don’t know what we did to deserve such a low incidence rate, because everywhere I go, hardly anyone is wearing a mask, or social distancing, or sanitizing their hands.
It’s possible, I suppose, that ‘pride’ is more effective than vaccinations.
At least, I hope so.