photo by: Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health

March 30 COVID-19 update from the health department

Douglas County reported 8,922 cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, an increase of 20 cases since Monday.

In Douglas County, 8,709 out of the 8,922 cases are inactive or beyond the infectious period, according to Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, meaning 213 cases are active.

The county has averaged about eight 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 8.29 new cases per day is up from a low of just under seven new cases per day last week and down from a recent high of 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 for vaccine clinics.

Douglas County has a 14-day COVID-19 incidence rate of 96.43 per 100,000 people and a test positivity rate of 2.3%. Four patients at Lawrence’s hospital had COVID-19 on Tuesday, the same number as Monday. To date, 84 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 2.73% COVID-19 positivity rate among faculty, staff and students for the most recent seven-day period for which data is available. Out of 293 total tests between March 22 and March 28, eight came back positive. One week ago, KU had a .94% COVID-19 positivity rate. Out of 533 total tests between March 15 and March 21, five came back positive.