Coronavirus Update In Lakewood: 117 New Cases Reported

LAKEWOOD, CO — Over the past two weeks, 117 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Lakewood, according to Jefferson County Public Health data. Since Sept. 1, the city has seen a small uptick in the number of bi-weekly cases reported.

As of Monday, there have been 1,811 cases in Lakewood since the outbreak began. The rate of infection per 1,000 residents in the city is 11.57, the data shows.

There have been 5,156 cases and 245 deaths in Jefferson County since the outbreak began, health officials confirmed. Three people have died in the county over the past week.

Around 4,666 people have recovered in Jeffco and 17 people were hospitalized as of Monday.

Number of Jeffco cases in surrounding municipalities:

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Between July 5 and July 18, 486 cases were confirmed in Jefferson County, and the state warned Jeffco officials that they were at risk of losing the variance. But since then, coronavirus case rates have gone down in the county, public health data shows.

When the county's first variance request was approved in early June, officials were given a threshold limit of 580 cases for a two-week period.

"We are hopeful that — as long as cases continue to decline or stabilize — we may be able to hold on to our Jefferson County variance," county officials said in mid-August.

A variance is a leniency granted to businesses and churches that eases restrictions if the county proves that cases are under a certain level. If Jeffco loses its variance, some businesses would be forced to scale back their services, and others may have to close. The current variance allows more lenient capacity limits for group gatherings, event centers, places of worship, malls, brewpubs, distilleries and other venues.

Over the past week, 2,212 new cases have been reported in Colorado. The state has seen a small uptick in cases over the past two weeks, which is partly due to college students returning to campuses, Gov. Jared Polis said in a news conference Tuesday.

"The worry is that the college transmission leads to community transmission," Polis said.

As of Monday, 61,699 people have been infected with the coronavirus in Colorado among 786,511 people who have been tested since the outbreak began, health officials confirmed. Around 7,240 people have been hospitalized, and the death toll has reached 1,894 after 28 people died over the past week.