photo by: Screenshot/Douglas County COVID-19 dashboard

Douglas County deaths from COVID-19, as of Jan. 28, 2021.

Douglas County has announced an additional 28 deaths in the community from COVID-19, bringing the total to 64.

“This increase does not reflect nearly 30 deaths overnight in our community,” the health department’s Thursday update read. “In general, the increase is due to delayed reporting from KDHE due to a variety of reasons, including higher than typical numbers to report due to the high number of seasonal deaths this time of year from both winter weather and the recent holiday surge.”

The 64 deaths are distributed among the following age categories: 28 in the 85-plus range, 19 in the 75-to-84 age range, 13 in the 65-to-74 age range, three in the 55-to-64 age range and one in the 45-to-54 age range.

Douglas County reported 8,005 cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday, an increase of 27 cases since Wednesday.

In Douglas County, 7,242 out of the 8,005 cases are inactive or beyond the infectious period, according to Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, meaning 763 cases are active.

The county has averaged about 33 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 32.86 new cases per day is down from a high of 68 cases per day in early January.

Douglas County has a 14-day COVID-19 incidence rate of 382.41 per 100,000 people and a test positivity rate of 2.2%. Test positivity rates are 6.7% in Eudora, 5.2% in Baldwin City, 2.8% in Lecompton and 1.9% in Lawrence.

Eighteen patients at Lawrence’s hospital had COVID-19 on Thursday, three more than Wednesday.