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As COVID-19 cases surge across the state, driven by the omicron variant, Boulder County health officials are dealing with both the ongoing pandemic and health impacts from the Marshall Fire. Camille Rodriguez, executive director of Boulder County Public Health, joins Colorado Edition to talk about how the county is handling these simultaneous issues.

A tourism-dependent area in Colorado's mountains has reinstituted a mask mandate because of a growing number of COVID-19 cases. Starting Thursday, people will have to wear masks in public indoor spaces in Summit County, home to several ski resorts.

During a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Jared Polis and other health officials say that the 鈥渂est defense鈥� against the new coronavirus variant is getting vaccinated. Omicron cases have been reported in Weld and Larimer counties this week.

Data from the University of Iowa show that rural death rates across the region rose sharply from mid-October through November. Residents in non-metro areas were dying at twice the rate of those in cities.

Rep. Jason Crow is the latest U.S. lawmaker to announce he has tested positive. In a tweet on Sunday, the Colorado Democrat said he is fully vaccinated and got a booster shot and is experiencing only mild symptoms.

Every COVID-19 metric looks a little more hopeful compared to a few weeks ago. Cases are down. So are hospitalizations. Yet state health officials worry about wild cards, like the omicron variant, and say a cautious approach could help prevent numbers from taking another turn for the worse.

This week marks the one-year anniversary of COVID-19 vaccines becoming available in Colorado. Last year, frontline healthcare workers became the first group of people to be vaccinated against the virus. One of those workers is Marilyn Schaefer, director of respiratory therapy for UCHealth鈥檚 North Region. She joined us to talk about the year of vaccination, and the role she and other respiratory therapists have played in fighting the pandemic.

State health officials say more than 10,000 people have died from COVID-19 in Colorado. The grim milestone comes on the one-year anniversary of the first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine arriving in Colorado and about 21 months into the pandemic, The Denver Post reported Tuesday. It also comes on the same day the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 topped 800,000.

This Tuesday marks one year since the first COVID-19 vaccines became available in Colorado. Despite progress in getting Coloradans vaccinated since then, the virus and its variants are still spreading in the state, and case numbers and hospitalizations remain at high levels. For perspective from a public health expert who was on the front line of both the pandemic and vaccine rollout in Northern Colorado, we spoke with Dr. Mark Wallace, chief clinical officer for Sunrise Community Health.

Vaccines first became available in Colorado nearly one year ago, on Dec. 14, 2020. In the year since, despite millions of Coloradans getting vaccinated, the virus and its variants are still spreading.