Coronavirus Update In Lakewood: 220 New Cases Reported

LAKEWOOD, CO — Over the past two weeks, 220 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Lakewood, according to Jefferson County Public Health data. The city has seen an uptick in the number of bi-weekly cases reported.

As of Wednesday, there have been 1,355 cases in Lakewood since the outbreak began. The rate of infection per 1,000 residents in the city is 8.66, the data shows.

There have been 3,836 cases and 226 deaths in Jefferson County since the outbreak began, health officials confirmed. Over the past week, more than 378 new cases have been reported in the county.

Around 3,243 people have recovered in Jeffco and 32 people were hospitalized as of Wednesday.

Number of Jeffco cases in surrounding municipalities:

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Jefferson and other counties in Colorado have received notices from the state that they are at risk of losing their variances, county officials said. The variances allow some regions — those that can prove contained spread of the coronavirus — more leniency from the state's public health guidelines.

Jefferson County received approval of a variance in early June, which allowed more lenient capacity limits for group gatherings, event centers, places of worship, malls, brewpubs, distilleries and other venues. The county has submitted a second variance request, but the state has put a two-week pause on the review of variance submissions due to a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases.

Jefferson County Public Health issued a new order July 20 that requires venues that host large events to provide a plan outlining how they will adhere to the state's public health orders.

The county also issued a face covering mandate July 14 that requires everyone to wear a face covering in public — indoors and outdoors — when social distancing guidelines can't be followed.

There has been an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in Jefferson County since mid-June, health officials said. When the county's first variance request was approved, local officials were given a threshold limit of 580 cases for a two-week period. Between July 5 and July 18, 486 cases were confirmed in the county, the agency said.

Over the past week, more than 4,000 new coronavirus cases have been reported in Colorado.

As of Wednesday, 45,796 people have been infected with the coronavirus in our state among 516,502 people who have been tested since the outbreak began, health officials confirmed. Around 6,398 people have been hospitalized, and the death toll has reached 1,688.