COVID-19 Outbreak Linked to Colorado Walmart

At least ten people are now infected with COVID-19 in connection with an outbreak at a Colorado Walmart. According to a report by CBS News Denver, public health officials say they are monitoring the outbreak at this store. This is the second outbreak at a Walmart in Colorado Springs.

The identities of the 10 people who contracted the coronavirus at a Colorado Springs Walmart have not been revealed, and it is not clear whether they are customers or employees. The cases were first reported last Wednesday, all linked to the Walmart Supercenter on E. Platte Ave. Another Walmart in town — ner Powers and Palmer Park Boulevard — saw an outbreak back in August. The store on E. Platte Ave. is now closed until Wednesday morning.

Walmart said that the closing was "part of a company-initiated program" to allow "extra time for a third-party specialist to further sanitize the store," according to The Colorado Springs Gazette. The August outbreak reached a total of 11 cases, and officials are hopeful that this one can be contained quickly.

Local public health officials are calling this the third wave of coronavirus cases in El Paso County, Colorado. On Sunday, they counted 71 new cases for the week — the highest since early August, when they identified the "second wave" of the virus in the area.

Colorado is not alone — according to a report by CNN, more than half of the states in the U.S. are now seeing an increase in new coronavirus cases, including five states with an increase of more than 50 percent in just one week. Right now, there are over 7.7 million known cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., according to the latest numbers from Johns Hopkins University. On Monday alone they added 33,979 new cases to the Worldometers and 254 newly reported deaths.

Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared on CNN to discuss these developments on Monday. He said: "I hope these numbers that you're quoting, which are absolutely correct numbers, jolt the American public into the realization that we really cannot let this happen — because it's on a trajectory of getting worse and worse. And that's the worst possible thing that can happen as we get into the cooler months."

"I think that people think that when we talk about public health, that we're talking about shutting down. Let's get that off the table. We are not talking about shutting down. We're talking about simple public health measures, as simple as they sound, are really quite effective — and that's what we say over and over again. Universal wearing of masks. Keep physical distance. Above all, avoid crowds and congregate settings," he went on. "Wash your hands as often as you can. Try to do things outdoors much more preferably than indoors. If we just do those five things, Jake — we don't have to do anything more complicated than that — and you would have a major impact on preventing surges, or even turning surges around that are ongoing."