Information
COVID symptoms/concerns: 970-945-6614 or 970-625-5200 Business Support: 970-625-5200 x 8120 publichealthinfo@garfield-county.com Register for alerts/notifications: garfieldcounty.net
Testing
If you are experiencing COVID symptoms of fatigue, cough, body aches, sore throat, fever, shortness of breath, please call your provider or Public Health within 1-2 days of the start of your symptoms.
Testing is available at providers throughout Garfield County. Mountain Family Health offers testing by appointment for those with or without insurance 970-945-2840.
Different types of tests:
“PCR tests” (nasal swab or saliva tests) are what is required to determine if you are symptomatic with COVID. They are necessary for containing the spread of disease.
“Antibody tests” may measure if you had the virus (after your body has fought off the disease and built up antibodies). However, their accuracy is still being determined.
Our Numbers
We are seeing an increase in testing with a low number of test-positives.
Garfield County is in the top third of the state for the number of tests administered per capita. (Our testing rate per 100,000 people has increased to 3,517.98).
Fortunately, our rate of “test-positivity” is still below 5 percent.
We continue to see a decrease in symptom onset dates.
County-level data is updated continually on our data page. The bar chart shows the date that our COVID cases began showing symptoms (symptom onset). This is what epidemiologists use to measure how much spread is occurring in our community and is why the bar chart dates lag behind the number of ‘cases.’
Our data page now lists information from the past 14 days, and the 14 day period before, to help people understand if there has been an increase, or doubling, of new cases.
Contact tracing
A team of public health nurses contacts every lab-confirmed and probable COVID case in Garfield County. A probable case is someone who did not get tested but was exposed to COVID and has symptoms of the illness.
Talking to these individuals, we find out when they became symptomatic (this is the symptom onset data shown on our data page).
We ask them about who they have had contact with and where they could have potentially spread the disease. Public Health calls any contacts that the ill individual may have exposed.
Our nurses provide education on symptoms, medical care, quarantining, isolating, and how to stop further spread.
Evidence Behind Face Coverings
Data supports that cloth face coverings significantly reduce the spread of COVID droplets from pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic people.
The cost of wearing a mask is low, but the benefit is high in terms of getting our economy back and reducing the death toll.
Public Health strongly encourages the widespread use of face coverings in public.
