photo by: Contributed/LMH Health

A COVID-19 drive-thru testing site at Lawrence's hospital, LMH Health, is pictured Tuesday, April 7, 2020.

Roughly 2% of respondents to the local health department’s most recent COVID-19 symptom survey reported having two or more symptoms of the virus recently, the department said Friday.

Of the 8,559 Douglas County residents who responded to the health department’s second and most recent survey, 167 reported that they experienced two or more symptoms consistent with COVID-19 in the last two weeks of April. The first survey sent out by Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health received 11,405 responses, and of those, 114 residents, or about 1%, reported recently experiencing at least two symptoms of COVID-19.

The second survey took place from April 28 to May 1 and included an expanded list of symptoms consistent with an update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The symptoms listed in the survey included: fever, dry cough, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain or muscle ache, diarrhea, nausea or vomiting, abdominal pain, loss of taste or smell, nasal congestion, sore throat, headache, fatigue, runny nose, rash, shortness of breath and pain or pressure in the chest.

“With a number of people still reporting they are symptomatic in our community, it’s important for people to follow the recommendations to stay at home as much as possible except for essential trips and to wear a mask or cloth face covering if they do go out in public,” senior analyst Dee Vernberg said in a Friday afternoon news release. “As we reopen, it can only be safe if everyone does their part, so it’s critical for people to still be mindful of these recommendations. For example, I will wear a mask to protect you, and I hope you wear a mask to protect me.”

Douglas County’s total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases remained at 56 on Friday, the same as it’s been since Tuesday. Of those 56 people, 44 have recovered, the health department said. Lawrence’s hospital had one patient with the illness on Friday, according to a release from LMH Health.

COVID-19 testing rates by race and ethnicity

On Friday afternoon, Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health also reported preliminary data on COVID-19 testing rates by race and ethnicity.

Through May 6, 1,247 Douglas County residents had been tested for COVID-19. The race and ethnicity of 542 of those residents is unknown — that’s 43.4%. Of the other 56.6%, or 705 people:

•581 are white

•32 are African American

•29 are Hispanic

•24 are Native American

•18 are Asian American

•21 are another race or ethnicity

The current testing rates per 1,000 people are:

•Native American – 7.73

•White – 6.00

•African American – 4.91

•Hispanic – 3.74

•Asian American – 2.71

The reason the health department’s overall testing number for Douglas County residents does not match that of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment — which reported the testing total for the county as 1,706 as of May 6 — is because some Douglas County residents have been tested more than once, the news release notes.

The release also states that the health department will ask all health care providers to note race and ethnicity when they order a test to improve data collection in the future.

“One thing we know is COVID-19 can affect people with underlying health issues more than others who don’t have underlying health issues, and it can be more severe in those cases,” Sonia Jordan, director of informatics for Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, said in the news release. “We know that in the United States and in Douglas County, that there are disparities occurring for chronic diseases, and so we would want to pay careful attention to how COVID-19 could potentially exacerbate some of those diseases already in place.”