photo by: Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health
January 15 COVID-19 update from the health department
According to the Department of Health, as of Friday, 3,337 first-dose and 792 second-dose COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Douglas County.
Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health spokesman George Diepenbrock said the 3,337 first doses were administered at LMH Health, Heartland, the Department of Health, Haskell Indian Health Center and long-term care facilities. The second doses were administered at LMH Health.
“After we were sent this week, we finally feel that the vaccine supply has thickened,” Dan Partridge, director of the health department, said in an email to the Journal-World. Partridge said LMH Health received 2,500 doses this week, which will be used to continue vaccinating Phase 1 health workers who have not yet received their first dose. Partridge also said Heartland Community Health Center received 1,000 doses and that the health department received 300 doses.
“At the moment, we feel pretty good that the state will send additional doses next week to cover more health workers, and our hope is that we will be able to get through Phase 1 in time for early February,” Partridge said.
Diepenbrock said Kansas added more people to Phase 1 last week – including “workers critical to the continuity of the pandemic response” and independent living communities for senior housing and long-term care. As a result of these additions, Diepenbrock said Douglas County estimates that there are approximately 6,000 people left in phase 1 who still need their first dose of the vaccine. He said Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health is working with the state to determine who it should include in the group of “workers critical to the continuity of pandemic responses.”
As the Journal-World reports, people can sign up for an alert system to receive notifications about Douglas County vaccine information. Previously, Unified Command identified two alarm systems in the country. Diepenbrock said Friday the country has decided to consolidate its efforts into one warning system.
Those interested in reporting the alerts should do so through Douglas County Emergency Management via dgcoks.org/emalerts.
Douglas County reported 7470 cases of COVID-19 as of Friday, an increase of 30 cases since Thursday.
In Douglas County, 6,253 of the 7,470 cases are inactive or out of the contagious period, according to Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, which means 1,217 cases are active.
The province has averaged about 63 new cases per day over the past 14 days, according to a 14-day moving average graph updated by the Department of Health on weekdays. The current average of 63.29 new cases per day is lower than a recent high of 78 cases per day in mid-November and at a recent low of 43 cases per day in December.
Douglas County has a COVID-19 incidence of 14 days of 736.55 per 100,000 people.
Fifteen patients at Lawrence Hospital had COVID-19 on Thursday, the same number as Wednesday. To date, 36 Douglas County residents have died from COVID-19.
The online map of the Department of Health and Environment in Kansas noted that 52,763 residents of Douglas County were tested for the disease. The province’s test rate per 1000 people was 431.6.