photo by: Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health

March 23 COVID-19 update from the health department

Douglas County reported 8,841 cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, an increase of five cases since Monday.

In Douglas County, 8,626 out of the 8,841 cases are inactive or beyond the infectious period, according to Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, meaning 215 cases are active.

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 7.21 new cases is up slightly from Monday’s low of 7.14, which was the lowest moving average the county had seen since the summer. The current average is down from a recent high of about 71 cases per day in early January.

The health department will not update its COVID-19 epidemiological dashboard Wednesday or Friday this week, as the office will be closed due to vaccine clinics.

Douglas County has a 14-day COVID-19 incidence rate of 83.96 per 100,000 people and a test positivity rate of 2%. Six patients at Lawrence’s hospital had COVID-19 on Tuesday, two more than Monday. To date, 81 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 0.94% COVID-19 positivity rate among faculty, staff and students for the most recent seven-day period for which data is available. Out of 533 total tests between March 15 and March 21, five came back positive.