photo by: Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health

March 9 COVID-19 update from the health department

Updated at 10:08 a.m. Wednesday

Douglas County will begin administering its first doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine this week, according to the health department.

The county received 900 doses of the newly FDA-approved vaccine from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment in the last week. George Diepenbrock, spokesperson for Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, said those doses would be distributed this week and early next week.

“We are grateful to have another approved vaccine — shown to have a high efficacy in trials at preventing hospitalization and death due to COVID-19 — that is available to help increase the supply that currently is limited,” Diepenbrock said.

Brian Bradfield, associate vice president of Ancillary Services at LMH Health, said the Johnson and Johnson vaccine doses went to the University of Kansas, Heartland Community Health Center, LMH Health and, he believed, Sigler Pharmacy.

Those receiving vaccines at the Douglas County Fairgrounds this week will receive a Pfizer shot. Wednesday’s vaccine clinic at the fairgrounds will be the largest to date, with 3,100 vaccines planned to be distributed. Bradfield said it is easier to give out one uniform vaccine type at the fairgrounds; otherwise, it would make it more difficult to determine who needs a second dose and when. Bradfield also said that Douglas County has not received Moderna vaccines in a while.

Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires only one dose, which Diepenbrock said would make it easier to administer.

Diepenbrock said Douglas County had not yet heard when it would receive more doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The county did, however, receive more Pfizer vaccines this week than is usual. Diepenbrock said the county received 3,510 doses. Two weeks ago, health department director Dan Partridge told the Journal-World the county had been receiving 2,340 doses total of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines each week.

Douglas County reported 8,735 cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, an increase of two cases since Monday. The health department will be closed on Wednesday and Friday because of vaccine clinics, so it will not be updating its epidemiological dashboard on those days.

In Douglas County, 8,483 out of the 8,735 cases are inactive or beyond the infectious period, according to Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, meaning 252 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 new cases is the lowest average the county has seen since mid-August.

Douglas County has a 14-day COVID-19 incidence rate of 116.39. Seven patients at Lawrence’s hospital had COVID-19 on Tuesday, two more than Monday. To date, 79 Douglas County residents have died from COVID-19.

Anyone who has not completed Douglas County’s vaccine interest form may do so online at dgcoks.org/vaccineinterestform. Any residents with questions about COVID-19 or the vaccine interest form may call Douglas County’s help line at 785-864-9000.

At the University of Kansas, there is a 1.04% COVID-19 positivity rate among faculty, staff and students for the most recent seven-day period for which data is available. Out of 490 total tests between March 1 and March 7, six came back positive.