photo by: Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health

Oct. 21 COVID-19 update from the health department.

The local health department and members of Unified Command are asking Douglas County residents to take a survey to understand whether residents are willing to receive an FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine once it becomes available.

The survey asks questions about which factors would influence one’s decision to receive or not to receive a vaccine, among others. It is available online at LDCHealth.org/coronavirus and douglascountyks.org/coronavirus. Paper copies are also available from Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health by calling the Coronavirus Hotline at 785-856-4343 or by sending an email to info@ldchealth.org.

“As development for a federally approved COVID-19 vaccine is ongoing and information is changing rapidly, we want to hear from everyone in our community about what would influence their decisions on whether to take the vaccine once it’s available,” Alex Kimball Williams, Health Equity Planner with Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, said in a news release. “These voices and responses will help us as we plan for the best way to distribute the future vaccine and make it accessible to everyone in our community once it becomes available.”

The survey will be available from Wednesday until Nov. 4 and can also be viewed in Spanish or Chinese.

Douglas County reported 2,766 cases of COVID-19 as of Wednesday, an increase of 13 cases since Tuesday.

In Douglas County, 2,452 out of the 2,766 cases are inactive or beyond the infectious period, according to Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, meaning 314 cases are active.

The county has averaged about 18 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 18.36 new cases per day is down from a high of 46 cases per day in early September and up from a recent low of nine cases per day in early August.

Three patients at Lawrence’s hospital had COVID-19 on Wednesday, the same number as Tuesday. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s online map noted that 32,776 Douglas County residents had been tested for the disease so far. The county’s testing rate per 1,000 people was 268.1.