As COVID-19 cases climb in Kansas, Douglas County total remains at 22

photo by: Associated Press

A Lawrence Memorial Hospital nurse works at a drive-thru virus testing facility In Lawrence, Kan., Thursday, March 26, 2020. Tests are by appointment only. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

Story updated at 4:08 p.m. Monday

New lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Douglas County residents have not been reported since Saturday morning, according to data released by state and local health officials Monday afternoon.

At least 22 Douglas County residents have tested positive since the pandemic began, and that number has stayed the same since increasing between daily updates on Friday and Saturday.

The state’s tally on Monday showed 23 cases in Douglas County because it still included a case that was presumed positive at a reference lab but was confirmed negative by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment lab. Local health officials have not included that particular case in their own count, which still stood at 22 as of Monday afternoon.

Those 22 local cases involve one person in his or her late teens, eight people in their 20s, seven people in their 30s, two people in their 40s, two people in their 50s, one person in his or her 60s and one person in his or her 70s, according to a release Sunday afternoon from Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health. The majority of the cases, 17, involved travel out of the county, state or country. In five other cases, officials believe that residents contracted the disease within the county.

KDHE announced that, as of 10 a.m. Monday, a total of 368 Kansas residents had tested positive for the new coronavirus, including eight deaths as a result of the disease. The number of deaths had increased to nine as of Monday afternoon, according to a report by The Associated Press.

Of 228 cases where information was available, 66 hospitalizations have been reported to date, the state said. That cumulative number, which likely includes patients who have recovered and are no longer hospitalized, reflects only Kansas residents and does not include residents of other states who may be in Kansas hospitals.

Patients in the state have ranged from 4 years old to 95 years old, with a median age of 55, and an almost equal number of men and women have tested positive for the disease, according to the state’s latest data Monday.


More coverage: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

As the pandemic continues, the Journal-World will be making coverage of COVID-19 available outside of the paywall on LJWorld.com.

Find all coverage of city, county and state responses to the virus at: ljworld.com/coronavirus/

Please consider subscribing to support the local journalists who are helping to inform our community: ljworld.com/subscribe/

COMMENTS

Welcome to the new LJWorld.com. Our old commenting system has been replaced with Facebook Comments. There is no longer a separate username and password login step. If you are already signed into Facebook within your browser, you will be able to comment. If you do not have a Facebook account and do not wish to create one, you will not be able to comment on stories.