photo by: Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health

Dec. 1 COVID-19 update from the health department

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

Previously, Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health announced that 25 people — seven residents between the ages of 65 and 74, five residents between the ages of 75 and 84 and 13 residents age 85 or older — had died from COVID-19 or with the virus as a contributing factor in their deaths.

The new death, which brings the total to 26, was a man in the 75 to 84 age range who had been hospitalized at the time of death, health department spokesperson George Diepenbrock said. LMH Health did not send out a COVID-19 update on Tuesday, but will send one out on Wednesday, according to the hospital’s update on Monday.

Douglas County reported 4,928 cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, an increase of 48 cases since Monday. Of the 4,928 cases, 3,635 are inactive or beyond the infectious period, meaning 1,293 cases are active.

The county has averaged roughly 59 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 58.86 new cases per day is down from a recent high of 74 cases per day in mid-November and up from a recent low of 17 cases per day in mid-October.

Twenty patients at Lawrence’s hospital had COVID-19 on Tuesday, three fewer than Monday.