Highly contagious respiratory illness whooping cough is making a comeback in Colorado after three years of a significant decline during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rates of pertussis — colloquially referred to a “whooping cough” — in Colorado decreased roughly 80% from 2020 through 2023, but now appear to be returning to pre-pandemic levels.
“We’ve seen an increase compared to what we saw in the pandemic,” said Grace Nelson, a disease intervention unit supervisor with the Denver Department of Public Health & Environment. “It’s kind of a return to baseline.”