New COVID-19 death brings Douglas County’s total to 87; 37 new cases reported since Friday

photo by: Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health

April 19 COVID-19 update from the health department

Another Douglas County resident has died from COVID-19, according to the county health department, bringing the total number of COVID-19-related deaths in the county to 87.

The new death was a woman in the 55-to-64 age range who was not hospitalized at the time of death, health department spokesperson George Diepenbrock said. The woman died in late March, but the health department was only recently notified of the death by the state’s Office of Vital Statistics.

According to the health department’s dashboard, there have been 40 deaths in the 85-plus age range, 24 deaths in the 75-to-84 age range, 14 deaths in the 65-to-74 age range, seven deaths in the 55-to-64 age range and two deaths in the 45-to-54 age range.

Douglas County reported 9,104 cases of COVID-19 as of Monday, an increase of 37 cases since Friday.

In Douglas County, 8,935 out of the 9,104 cases are inactive or beyond the infectious period, according to Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, meaning 169 cases are active.

The health department will not update its COVID-19 epidemiological dashboard on Tuesday or Thursday because it will be holding mass vaccination clinics.

The county has averaged about seven 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 7.29 new cases per day is up from a low of just under seven new cases per day in mid-March and down from a recent high of 71 cases per day in early January.

Douglas County has a 14-day COVID-19 incidence rate of 84.8 per 100,000 people and a test positivity rate of 2.6%. Test positivity rates are 5.5% in Eudora, 2.5% in Lawrence, 1.6% in Baldwin City and 0% in Lecompton. Two patients at Lawrence’s hospital had COVID-19 on Monday, three fewer than Friday.

Registration for all vaccination clinics will be open to the public, and registration codes will be posted at LDCHealth.org/COVIDVaccine and Douglascountyks.org/Coronavirus. Any residents with questions about COVID-19 or the vaccine interest form may call Douglas County’s help line at 785-864-9000.

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