Moffat County COVID-19 numbers continue to dip after the winter holiday surge seen across the country. As of Feb. 15, the one-week cumulative positivity rate is at 11.2%, meaning a little over one in ten tests are coming back positive in Moffat County, according to data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

This is a vast improvement over early January. On Jan. 4, Moffat County saw its highest positivity rate ever during the pandemic. Just after Christmas, over 25% of tests were coming back positive. Currently, cumulative incidence rates are down, as well. Cumulative incidence is calculated as the number of new events or cases of COVID-19 divided by the total number of individuals in the population at risk for a specific time interval, per 100,000.

Since last week, the incidence rate has dropped from 722.5 down to 361.2 reported on Tuesday.

Because a different number of tests — positive and negative — are reported to CDPHE every week, this can affect positivity data, as well. Often, at-home rapid tests are not reported, which would influence data.

The state health department reported 705 people were actively hospitalized in Colorado with confirmed COVID-19 as of Feb. 14 — the lowest number since late August. The Omicron variant — which has been reported as having milder symptoms but is more contagious — continues to be the most prominent variant in the state of Colorado. Omicron makes up 98.4% of new tested cases as of Jan. 23 (the latest data available).

Across the country, cases are down as well, dropping by 66% nationwide over the past two weeks.

Vaccination rates have increased since the last surge. In January, vaccination rates in the county dipped down to 42.9% for patients who are up-to-date for the COVID-19 vaccine because of the inclusion of 5 to 11 year olds in vaccine data. Now, 44.6% of the county is considered up-to-date. According to CDPHE, up-to-date means that eligible patients over the age of 5 have both doses of the COVID-19 doses, plus a booster (if they qualify).

This means that over the course of the pandemic, providers have administered 13,215 doses to residents in the county. Almost 50% of eligible Moffat County residents have at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Last week, the Food and Drug Administration gave full approval to the Moderna version of the COVID-19 vaccine (also called Spikevax), meaning it is no longer under an emergency-use authorization. In August of 2021, the FDA gave Pfizer’s version (Comirnaty and Pfizer-BioNTech) full approval for people 16 years old and over.

“The FDA’s approval of Spikevax is a significant step in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, marking the second vaccine approved to prevent COVID-19. The public can be assured that Spikevax meets the FDA’s high standards for safety, effectiveness and manufacturing quality required of any vaccine approved for use in the United States,” Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D. said in a news release. “While hundreds of millions of doses of Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine have been administered to individuals under emergency use authorization, we understand that for some individuals, FDA approval of this vaccine may instill additional confidence in making the decision to get vaccinated.”

Read more about Moderna’s full approval here.