TOPEKA, Canada (WIBW) – Shawnee Co. has returned to the maximum number of 24 on its COVID-19 community transmission dashboard.
Shawnee Co. health officials they released the update Thursday afternoon, saying they are starting to see an increase after the holidays.
It comes a day after the county saw a record number of virus cases reported to the health department (233).
The incidence trend index, which fell to the “low” zone last week, was in the “uncontrolled” zone in the last report, with new cases 43% higher than the previous week .
Health officials say Shawnee Co. recorded 152 cases confirmed recently on Thursday alone. The county has also seen 42 residents die from COVID-related illness in the past two weeks.
Shawnee Co. it also recorded an increase in the percentage of positive tests, which went from 9.9% last week to 12.8% this week. The hospital occupancy rate also exceeds 90% again.
“We’re very busy with COVID again, because we haven’t actually let it go, we’ve felt like we’ve arrived and we feel like we’re on a plateau right now,” Dr. Robert Kenagy, CEO of Stormont Vail Health at the Department of Health’s virtual press conference.
Health officials say 86% of cases in Shawnee Co. they had no known source of infection, compared to 92% the previous week, but still in the “uncontrolled” area.
Last week’s overall score was 18.
As for vaccination, interim Dr. Dennis Cooley said the county is working to vaccinate health workers and those in the first phase of vaccination groups.
He said a faster deployment of the vaccine is based on things like available space, staff and security that no dose of vaccine will be missed.
He said as more people are eligible, it will be a group effort to make sure everyone gets their dose.
“It will be a larger number that we will be dealing with, so it will be a whole type of action throughout the community that will allow us to introduce the vaccine into these groups,” he said.
Although availability is increasing, he said people cannot forget about safety guidelines.
“Even though you’re vaccinated, you still have to wear masks, you still have to space out and you have to wash your hands and all the things we tell you,” he said.
When it comes to the issue of introducing vaccine administration data as state health officials have spoken, Steve Anderson, of the Saint Francis campus at the University of Kansas, said the 20 staff vaccine administrators are trained to enter data.
Dr. Kenagy said 100 percent of Stormont Vail vaccine managers are also trained in this.
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