Comparison of COVID cases in 4 Colorado counties

10/8/2021 Updated to add commentary from a local community member, Kevin Kisich, PhD, (Immunology), 10/9/2021 Updated to reflect referenced article. 

Recently inspired by a social media conversation, we decided to pull some analysis together of the currently reported numbers by case, vaccination rate, and mask requirements.  We compared four counties: Adams, Boulder, Denver & Weld.

While Boulder County is the only county with a mask mandate of these four, and populations vary from County to County, Boulder does have a major university with a large student population and is heavily trafficked by tourists as well.

We will let the numbers tell the story from here.

All data was derived from the CDC and each county’s Health Departments. Per 100k/case numbers are reflected per week as of today. 

For additional comparisons, we have included two countries that have maintained low cases of COVID; Taiwan and New Zealand.

We felt this statement by Kevin Kisich, PhD, (Immunology) a valuable contribution to this report:

“For every life saved, and illness prevented during this fluster cluck pandemic, enormous effort is required. Each public health intervention, such as vaccination, masking, distancing, or avoiding travel contributes. Many people want black/white, yes/no simple answers. “Masks work”, “vaccines don’t work”, for example. Epidemiology and medical science can provide odds, and probabilities. For the impact of masking on COVID transmission rates, I think this is the most comprehensive study so far. The study shows that masks help, but cannot by themselves stop the pandemic. As I noted: each life saved, or illness prevented takes effort. Either people believe their neighbors are worth the effort, or they do not.”
https://www.poverty-action.org/study/impact-mask-distribution-and-promotion-mask-uptake-and-covid-19-bangladesh

New Zealand:

Taiwan: