photo by: Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health

For the first time since early March, Douglas County has moved out of the “green” zone of COVID-19 spread and into the more severe “yellow” zone, according to the county health department.

On Tuesday, Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health reported that the county had moved into the yellow tier of the color-coded community transmission scale, which is based on two statistics: a 14-day moving average of new COVID-19 cases and the number of cases currently active in the county.

The county is in the yellow tier when the moving average of new cases per day is between 25 and 50 and the county has between 501 and 1,000 active cases. As of the health department’s latest update Tuesday afternoon, Douglas County had 591 active cases and a moving average of 37.2 new cases per day.

The county’s community transmission scale offers some broad recommendations for people to follow depending on the category. For the “yellow” category, some of those recommendations include masks for anyone age 2 or older in indoor public spaces and limiting gatherings to smaller groups.

The moving average and active case count aren’t the only COVID-19 statistics that have risen recently. There were five inpatients hospitalized with COVID-19 at LMH Health on Tuesday; about a month earlier, the hospital had no COVID inpatients for the first time since June of 2021.

Douglas County has now seen 26,093 COVID cases since the start of the pandemic, and there have been 137 COVID-19 deaths in the county so far.

Earlier this month, tens of thousands of University of Kansas basketball fans converged on Massachusetts Street in downtown Lawrence — across multiple days, and often for hours at a time in dense crowds — to celebrate the men’s basketball team’s national championship victory. The health department’s update does not comment on whether the recent uptick in cases is related to those mass gatherings.

The health department continues to recommend that Douglas County residents follow updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance. In part, that includes a continued recommendation to wear masks on public transportation. Masks are no longer required on public transportation, including the Lawrence Transit system, as a result of a federal court ruling this week, but the CDC still recommends that masks be worn.

The health department also encourages the public to get vaccinated. The Food and Drug Administration in late March approved a second booster dose for certain immunocompromised individuals and people age 50 and older who received an initial booster dose at least four months ago.

The health department administers vaccinations and booster doses at the clinic on the first floor of the Community Health Building, 200 Maine St., for adults and eligible children. The clinic will accept walk-ins during April from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 4 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays. Those interested in getting vaccinated can call (785) 843-0721 with any questions. Shots are also widely available at various pharmacies and doctor’s offices.