photo by: Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health

Oct. 23 COVID-19 update from the health department

Douglas County reported 2,796 cases of COVID-19 as of Friday, an increase of 12 cases since Thursday.

The county has averaged about 16 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 15.64 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.

In Douglas County, 2,531 out of the 2,796 cases are inactive or beyond the infectious period, according to Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, meaning 265 cases are active.

Five patients at Lawrence’s hospital had COVID-19 on Friday, one more than Thursday. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s online map noted that 33,075 Douglas County residents had been tested for the disease so far. The county’s testing rate per 1,000 people was 270.5. Seventeen county residents have died from the virus thus far.

In its weekly community scorecard, Douglas County hit all of its goals over the past week: The average weekly number of new COVID-19 cases decreased, no high-risk outbreaks were reported, the number of active cases per week decreased and less than 40% of beds and 20% of ventilators were in use at LMH Health.