photo by: Kevin Anderson/Journal-World File Photo

The Lawrence-Douglas County health department's home at the Community Health Facility, 200 Maine St., is pictured in this file photo from July 2010.

The third wave of Douglas County’s COVID-19 symptom survey began Wednesday and will remain open until Saturday, May 23, at 9 a.m.

The survey is meant to help the local health department understand how many people in Douglas County have or do not have symptoms of COVID-19, while testing efforts largely remain limited. The first survey revealed that 114 of 11,405 residents who responded reported recent COVID-19 symptoms. In the second survey, 167 of the 8,559 survey responders reported recent COVID-19 symptoms.

The third survey will include additional questions asking residents how they feel about wearing masks, how they’ve received information about the pandemic and their feelings about the phased reopening plan.

Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health and Unified Command are asking those who took the first two surveys to take the survey again, as well as encouraging those who have not taken any survey to participate in the third wave and those to follow.

“Beyond testing protocols, a population survey is a way to identify the percentage of population experiencing symptoms and seeking to identify potential trends geographically on the potential prevalence of the virus,” a news release from the health department and Unified Command said.

Since the pandemic began, about 2,300 tests have been administered in Douglas County and 62 residents have tested positive, the health department said.

The survey can be accessed on the Unified Command’s website, douglascountyks.org/coronavirus. Residents are asked to complete the survey for every member of their household.