photo by: Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health

Oct. 28 COVID-19 update from the health department.

One more Douglas County resident has died from COVID-19, according to the health department’s Wednesday update about the virus.

Previously, Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health announced that 18 people — five residents between the ages of 65 and 74, one resident between the ages of 75 and 84 and 12 residents age 85 or older — had died from COVID-19 or with the virus as a contributing factor in their deaths.

This week’s death was a male in the 65 to 74 age range who had been hospitalized at LMH Health at the time of his death, health department spokesperson George Diepenbrock said. This was the third LMH Health inpatient to die of COVID-19 this week, the hospital noted in its daily update today. The Journal-World reported on Monday the death of a Douglas County resident who had been hospitalized at LMH Health. The third death at Lawrence’s hospital this week was not a Douglas County resident, Diepenbrock said.

“These are so much more than just statistics; our hearts go out to the families struggling with these insurmountable losses,” the hospital’s Wednesday update read. “Please keep our patients, families and providers in your thoughts, and wear your mask in their honor.”

Douglas County reported 2,898 cases of COVID-19 as of Wednesday, an increase of 21 cases since Tuesday. In Douglas County, 2,604 out of the 2,898 cases are inactive or beyond the infectious period, according to Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, meaning 294 cases are active.

The county has averaged about 15 new cases per day over the last 14 days, according to a 14-day moving average graph updated weekdays by the health department. The current average of 15.36 new cases per day is down from a high of 46 cases per day in early September and up from a recent low of nine cases per day in early August.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s online map noted that 33,713 Douglas County residents had been tested for the disease so far. The county’s testing rate per 1,000 people was 275.8.

Four patients at Lawrence’s hospital had COVID-19 on Wednesday, four fewer than Tuesday.