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Kiowa was only Colorado county with no COVID cases – until last week

Now all of the state's 64 counties have reported at least one case, according to the state health department.

KIOWA COUNTY, Colorado — As the coronavirus pandemic has spread rapidly across Colorado over the past few months, there was a county on the Eastern Plains that hadn't reported a single case.

That changed last week.

On Sept. 22, the Kiowa County Public Health Agency said that a woman in her 60s was confirmed to have COVID-19.

The woman was in isolation at home and was expected to make a full recovery, the public health agency said. Her close contacts were notified and quarantined.

Colorado's first case of coronavirus was reported in early March: an out-of-state visitor who was in Summit County. That means Kiowa County avoided having even a single reported case for more than six months.

> Video above: Coronavirus headlines for Sept. 26.

Kiowa, on the plains east of Pueblo, had a population of 1,395 people as of July 2019, which made it the 5th least populated county in the state, according to the Colorado Department of Local Affairs.

The county is 1,785 square miles, which comes out to more than a square mile of space for each resident. That's some serious physical distancing.

The largest town, Eads, with about 600 residents, claimed about 40% of the county's total population.

Other Colorado counties with fewer than 10 COVID-19 cases are Dolores (3 cases), Hindsdale (3), Jackson (9) and San Juan (6), according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE).

It just so happens that San Juan is the state's least populated county, with 726 residents. Hindsdale is No. 3, Jackson is No. 4, and Dolores is No. 7.

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