Tri-County Health Department, which operates in Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties, had a stern warning Thursday tied to recent increases in COVID-19 cases: get the cases under control or risk moving to more restrictions.

The risk could be greatest for Adams County, which is at Level 2 on the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s COVID-19 dial. 

That’s an indication of a COVID-19 positivity rate between 5% and 10%, well above the statewide seven-day average positivity rate of 3.77%. Level 2 also indicates case counts of between 75 and 175 per 100,000 population. 

During the two weeks ending Oct. 7, according to Tri-County, Adams County has had 1,420 new cases and 52 new hospitalizations.

Arapahoe and Douglas counties are at level one in the CDPHE dial, meaning a positivity rate below 5% and case counts of 75 or less per 100,000 population.

But Tri-County reported Thursday that Arapahoe County has had 885 new cases and 39 new hospitalizations in the past two weeks; Douglas County has had 400 new cases and 8 new hospitalizations in the same time period.

Tri-County Executive Director Dr. John Douglas said in a statement Thursday that “case investigation and contact tracing follow-up show that a large number of the positive cases may be connected to both public and private social gatherings. To reduce the spread of infection, when gathering – whether it is indoors or outside, or at a private party or public event – everyone should be sure to wear face coverings, maintain at least six feet of social distancing from others outside of their household, and wash their hands frequently.”

The public health department statement added that prevention measures “are especially crucial now that the weather is cooling and more gatherings and restaurant seating will be indoors where transmission can occur more readily than outdoors.”

In addition to the prevention measures listed above, people also need to stay home when sick, get tested if COVID-19 symptoms occur, and cooperate with public health staff if there is a positive result or if there has been exposure to someone who has been diagnosed with the virus. 

“We know that many of our residents have ‘COVID fatigue,’ but our community needs to come together to improve our transmission prevention efforts to help slow the spread and lower the numbers of COVID-19 cases so that we can continue going to work, to school and to worship, especially before we head into the holiday season,” the Tri-County statement said.

The public health department also encouraged everyone to get a flu shot as an extra precaution.

While Douglas County has announced it will separate from Tri-County and form its own public health department, that won’t happen until next year.

As of Thursday, the CDPHE is reporting 75,785 cases of COVID-19. There have been nearly 1.5 million COVID-19 tests administered to 984,996 people. Deaths due to COVID-19 stand at 1,997, with an additional 98 people who died with the virus but not as a result of it.

The state has now recorded 846 outbreaks, with 38 new outbreaks recorded in the past week. The CDPHE on Wednesday listed five new outbreaks in Adams County, two in Arapahoe County and one in Douglas County.

Of the 242 active outbreaks, 49 are tied to colleges and universities or K-12 schools.