Jefferson County Coronavirus Update: 288 New Cases Reported

JEFFERSON COUNTY, CO — Over the past week, 288 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Jefferson County, according to public health data. As of Thursday, there have been 3,512 cases in Jeffco since the outbreak began. Around 2,996 people have recovered in Jeffco and 25 people were hospitalized as of Thursday.

Number of Jeffco cases in some of the largest 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 Monday 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 all residents and visitors to wear a mask or face covering in public 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 3,500 new cases of the coronavirus have been reported in Colorado, according to public health data. As of Thursday, 42,314 people have been infected with the coronavirus in our state among 467,726 people who have been tested since the outbreak began, health officials confirmed. Around 6,149 people have been hospitalized, and the death toll has reached 1,645.