Friday, Grand County Public Health kicked off a campaign to help the Grand community reach herd immunity from COVID-19.

Dubbed “Road to 10,000,” the campaign seeks to educate the public about the importance of herd immunity – where enough people in a community are protected from getting a disease because they already had it, or have been vaccinated.

“Herd immunity gives us more protection against the virus, but – most importantly – fewer available hosts leads to less opportunity for the virus to mutate,” explained Grand County Public Health Director Abbie Baker. “The fewer hosts a virus has to infect, the less successful it is in causing illness.

“The less COVID-19 spreads from person-to-person, the less opportunity it has to change into a more severe version that can be passed on more easily,” Baker continued.

Since the State’s introduction of the COVID dial last year, Grand County has moved up and down the levels. Grand County is currently in Level Yellow (Concern), and is on the verge of Level Blue (Caution). Throughout the moves, Baker has remained optimistic, and is looking forward to Colorado retiring the dial altogether later this month.

Though Grand County’s case rates today are significantly lower than two months ago, Baker remains cautious due to the increasing number of COVID-19 variants being discovered in the County and throughout the State. With summer approaching, she encourages everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated – reaching herd immunity is our community’s best opportunity to resume the iconic outdoor events and activities for which Grand County is known in a relatively “normal” fashion.

All primary care providers in Grand County are now offering the COVID-19 vaccine to the public, including Grand County Public Health, Middle Park Health, Denver Health, Fraser Medical Clinic, Byers Peak Family Medicine, Safeway and City Market. All vaccine provides except Safeway are offering the two-shot Moderna vaccine. (Safeway is offering the two-shot Pfizer vaccine.) Public Health is anticipating receiving a shipment of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine soon.

For a complete list of vaccine offerings in Grand County, visit co.grand.co.us/vaccine.

To track Grand County’s progress and Road to 10,000, visit co.grand.co.us./RoadTo10K.