The new dial metric tracks newly admitted residents to any hospital, per day, per 100,000 residents. In Phase I, this metric is not used at all. Instead, counties will have a 30-day grace period in Level Blue.
In Phase II, which began May 16, counties that remained under our Public Health Order were assigned to Level Clear – an observation period – where a county will only be moved out of Level Clear if they exceed two new hospital admissions, per day, per 100,000 residents, for seven consecutive days. The last date that our counties exceeded this level was 01/02/2021 for Adams County, 12/28/2020 for Arapahoe County, and 12/08/2020 for Douglas County.
Unlike hospital capacity, which is inherently regional, this metric is County-specific and only counts the number of County residents newly admitted to any hospital. Unlike incidence rate and percent positivity, this new metric accounts for the severity of cases as treatments improve and individuals are vaccinated.
Metric Thresholds for Each Level:
| Level Clear: New Normal | LEVEL BLUE: CAUTION | LEVEL YELLOW: CONCERN | LEVEL ORANGE: HIGH RISK | LEVEL RED: SEVERE RISK | LEVEL PURPLE: EXTREME RISK |
Metric – Hospital Admissions per 100,000 County Residents Over a 7-Day Period | 0-2 | 2 - 3 | 3 - 4 | 4 - 5 | > 5 | >5 and Hospital Capacity is Threatened |