Colorado’s oldest residents are seeing the benefits of the state’s COVID-19 inoculation efforts. In contrast with the rising numbers of new cases and hospitalizations statewide, Colorado’s oldest residents, who were prioritized for vaccinations for the first three months of the inoculation effort, haven’t seen the same surge.

Instead, the oldest and most vaccinated age group has seen a significant decline in new cases and hospital admissions, and the numbers have stayed low. Meanwhile, cases and hospitalizations have risen in age groups that have only recently become widely eligible for vaccinations.

Since a record-setting winter coronavirus surge, hospitalizations among Coloradans older than 80 came down more than 90%. For Coloradans between 60 and 79, hospitalizations have declined more than 80%. But for Coloradans under 60, hospitalizations are down only 58% compared with the winter highs.

The same is true among new cases, which have declined since the winter high among Coloradans older than 60, but which have surged among Coloradans under 60 years old. Nearly all of the surge of the past five weeks has been driven by younger Coloradans.

In recent weeks, Gov. Jared Polis and state health officials predicted the “fourth wave,” as Polis has called it, will be different from previous spikes because of high vaccination rates among the state’s oldest, most vulnerable residents, which would mean hospitalizations and new infections would be dominated by younger people, who haven’t been vaccinated at the same high rate.

“We are seeing hospitalizations among 20, 30, 40, 50-year-olds right now,” Rachel Herlihy, the state epidemiologist, said Tuesday. “That’s obviously a concerning trend for us in the state.”

One cause of the “fourth wave” generally, Herlihy said, is the increased dominance of COVID-19 variants in Colorado. More than half of cases can be traced back to new coronavirus strains, the worst of which have been found to be more transmissible and potentially more severe. Herlihy said it was “absolutely likely” that variants were contributing to increased cases and hospitalizations among younger Coloradans.

The current surge would be worse, she said, if fewer Coloradans had been vaccinated. She and Polis said younger people needed to get inoculated. Appearing at the same news conference, Polis urged those younger residents to “quit putting off” getting vaccinated. The governor said Tuesday that it will now be easier to get vaccinated, as three mass inoculation sites – at the fairgrounds in Pueblo, the Ranch Complex in Loveland and Ball Arena in Denver – will begin accepting walk-in, unscheduled appointments.

Deaths are down, but not as dramatically, among older Coloradans as well. Death caused by COVID-19 has typically happened several weeks after someone contracts or is hospitalized with the virus, meaning trends in coronavirus deaths would come several weeks later.

Dr. Jonathan Samet, the lead researcher on the Colorado COVID-19 Modeling Group and the dean of the CU School of Medicine, said the difference in new cases and hospitalizations mean the vaccines are working.

Though he’s said he hopes the “fourth wave” will be the final one, and that the state has passed the worst of the pandemic, Polis emphasized that the pandemic hadn’t ended for anyone unvaccinated.

“The threat may have abated for people who are fully vaccinated, but you are more vulnerable than ever before,” he said, directing his comments to people who haven’t been inoculated yet. “Whether you’re 26 or 46, and you haven’t been vaccinated yet, it’s incredibly important with the prevalence of virus to avoid gathering with others and to wear a mask and to sign up and get vaccinated as soon as you can.”

Colorado’s oldest residents are seeing the benefits of the state’s COVID-19 inoculation efforts. In contrast with the rising numbers of new cases and hospitalizations statewide, Colorado’s oldest residents, who were prioritized for vaccinations for the first three months of the state’s inoculation effort, haven’t seen the same surge.

Instead, the oldest and most vaccinated age group has seen a significant decline in new cases and hospital admissions, and the numbers have stayed low. Meanwhile, cases and hospitalizations have risen in age groups that have only recently become widely eligible for vaccinations.

Since a record-setting winter coronavirus surge, hospitalizations among Coloradans older than 80 came down more than 90%. For Coloradans between 60 and 79, hospitalizations have declined more than 80%. But for Coloradans under 60 years old, hospitalizations are down only 58% compared to the winter highs.

The same is true among new cases, which have declined since the winter high among Coloradans older than 60, but which have surged among Coloradans under 60 years old. Nearly all of the surge of the past five weeks has been driven by younger Coloradans.

In recent weeks, Gov. Jared Polis and state health officials predicted the “fourth wave,” as Polis has called it, will be different from previous spikes because of high vaccination rates among the state’s oldest, most vulnerable residents, which would mean hospitalizations and new infections would be dominated by younger people, who haven’t been vaccinated at the same high rate.

“We are seeing hospitalizations among 20, 30, 40, 50-year-olds right now,” Rachel Herlihy, the state epidemiologist, told reporters Tuesday. “That’s obviously a concerning trend for us in the state.”

One cause of the “fourth wave” generally, Herlihy said, is the increased dominance of COVID-19 variants in Colorado. More than half of all cases here can be traced back to new coronavirus strains, the worst of which have been found to be more transmissible and potentially more severe. Herlihy said it was “absolutely likely” that variants were contributing to increased cases and hospitalizations among younger Coloradans.

The current surge would be worse, she said, if fewer Coloradans had been vaccinated. She and Polis both said younger people needed to get inoculated. Appearing at the same press conference, Polis urged those younger residents to “quit putting off” getting vaccinated. The governor said Tuesday that it will now be easier to get vaccinated, as three mass inoculation sites – at the fairgrounds in Pueblo, the Ranch Complex in Loveland and Ball Arena in Denver – will now begin accepting walk-in, unscheduled appointments.

Deaths are down, but not as dramatically, among older Coloradans as well. Death caused by COVID-19 has typically happened several weeks after someone contracts or is hospitalized with the virus, meaning any trends in coronavirus deaths would come several weeks later.

Dr. Jonathan Samet, the lead researcher on the Colorado COVID-19 Modeling Group and the dean of the CU School of Medicine, said the difference in new cases and hospitalizations mean the vaccines are working.

Though he’s said he hopes the “fourth wave” will be the final one, and that the state has passed the worst of the pandemic, Polis emphasized that the pandemic hadn’t ended for anyone unvaccinated.

“The threat may have abated for people who are fully vaccinated, but you are more vulnerable than ever before,” he said, directing his comments to people who haven’t been inoculated yet. “Whether you’re 26 or 46, and you haven’t been vaccinated yet, it’s incredibly important with the prevalence of virus to avoid gathering with others and to wear a mask and to sign up and get vaccinated as soon as you can.”