Colorado ICU shortages are not as covid related as they would like you to believe

“A vast majority of the volume on the hospitals is not COVID-related,” Luyten said. “It’s just … backlog plus this is typically, seasonally, a busy time.”

In other words,the cause of higher hospital capacity is a bit of a mixed bag. COVID-19, combined with delayed elective and non-emergent surgeries, are driving numbers up.Additionally, while hospital admission rates are up, Luyten said emergency rooms aren’t as busy as they typically are this time of year.

“The total volume of people seeking care in an emergency department is down, but those that are seeking care are sicker,” he said.

Some experts believe more people are delaying treatment during the pandemic and are more likely to dismiss symptoms of serious issues like heart attack and stroke.

State health officials say the infrastructure and equipment at the convention center in Downtown Denver remain in place. Hospital bed capacity and other variables, including forecasting what could happen in the future, will determine triggering the opening of the convention center to be used to relieve hospitals.

The state does not have— or won’t release— any rigid parameters that would dictate when an opening might happen. The state relies heavily on advice from hospital administrators. Officials would likely make a call on opening two weeks in advance to give enough time for staffers at the convention center to ramp up operations, according to a CDPHE official. The governor has the final say in determining if or when the convention center would be used to support hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to CDPHE.

Meanwhile Colorado has been punished again going backwards on the opening scale and having the holiday times threatened with spikes of the virus!

https://kdvr.com/news/local/covid-19-not-only-factor-driving-hospital-bed-capacity-in-colorado/