photo by: Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health

March 2 COVID-19 update from the health department

Two more Douglas County residents have died from COVID-19, according to the county health department, bringing the total number of COVID-19-related deaths in the county to 78.

The two new deaths were a man and a woman who were both in the 85-plus age range, Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health spokesperson George Diepenbrock said Monday. They were not hospitalized at the time of their deaths. Diepenbrock said the health department was recently notified of the deaths by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s Office of Vital Statistics, and that one occurred during the first week of February and the other occurred within the past week.

According to the health department’s dashboard, there have been 37 deaths in the 85-plus age range, 22 deaths in the 75 to 84 age range, 13 deaths in the 65 to 74 age range, five deaths in the 55 to 64 age range and one death in the 45 to 54 age range.

Douglas County reported 8,653 cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, an increase of nine cases since Monday.

In Douglas County, 8,329 out of the 8,653 cases are inactive or beyond the infectious period, according to Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, meaning 324 cases are active.

The county has averaged about 10 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 10.43 new cases is the lowest average the county has seen since mid-August.

Douglas County has a 14-day COVID-19 incidence rate of 121.37 per 100,000 people and a test positivity rate of 2.7%. Test positivity rates are 7.4% in Lecompton, 2.8% in Lawrence, 1.8% in Eudora and 1% in Baldwin City. Seven patients at Lawrence’s hospital had COVID-19 on Tuesday, the same number as Monday.

Anyone who has not completed Douglas County’s vaccine interest form may do so online at dgcoks.org/vaccineinterestform. Any residents who do not have internet access or who need help filling out the form may contact the Senior Resource Center at 785-842-0543 and leave a message. Staff will return calls during business hours in the order calls are received.

At the University of Kansas, there is a 1.48% COVID-19 positivity rate among faculty, staff and students for the most recent seven-day period for which data is available. Out of 541 total tests between Feb. 22 and Feb. 28, only eight came back positive.