photo of: Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health
January 15 COVID-19 update from the health department
As of Friday, 3,337 first doses and 792 second doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered in Douglas County, according to the health department.
George Diepenbrock, Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health spokesman, said the first 3,337 doses were given at LMH Health, Heartland, the health department, the Haskell Indian Health Center and long-term care centers. . The second doses had been administered to LMH Health.
“After receiving shipments this week, we finally feel that the supply of vaccines has thickened,” health department director Dan Partridge said in an email to the Journal-World. Partridge said LMH Health received 2,500 doses this week, which will be used to continue vaccinating Phase 1 health workers who have not yet received the first dose. Partridge also said Heartland Community Health Center received 1,000 doses and the health department received 300 doses.
“Right now, we feel pretty good that the state will send extra doses next week to cover more health workers and hopefully we can finish phase 1 on time by early February,” Partridge said.
Diepenbrock said Kansas added more people to Phase 1 last week, including “workers critical to the continuity of the pandemic response” and independent living communities for housing for the elderly and the elderly. long-term care. Because of these additions, Diepenbrock said Douglas County estimates there are about 6,000 people left in Phase 1 who still need the first dose of the vaccine. He said Lawrence-Douglas County public health is working with the state to determine who should include in the group “workers critical to the continuity of the pandemic response.”
As reported by Journal-World, people can sign up for an alert system to receive notifications about Douglas County vaccine information. Previously, Unified Command identified two alert systems within the county. On Friday, Diepenbrock said the county decided to consolidate its efforts into an alert system.
Those interested in signing up for alerts should do so through Douglas County Emergency Management at dgcoks.org/emalerts.
Douglas County reported 7,470 cases of COVID-19 as of Friday, an increase of 30 cases since Thursday.
In Douglas County, 6,253 of the 7,470 cases are inactive or beyond the infectious period, according to Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, meaning 1,217 cases are active.
The county has averaged about 63 new cases a day over the past 14 days, according to a 14-day moving average chart updated on weekdays by the health department. The current average of 63.29 new cases a day has dropped from a recent high of 78 cases a day in mid-November to a recent low of 43 cases a day in December.
Douglas County has a 14-day COVID-19 incidence rate of 736.55 per 100,000 people.
Fifteen patients at Lawrence Hospital had COVID-19 on Thursday, the same number as Wednesday. So far, 36 Douglas County residents have died from COVID-19.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s online map noted that up to 52,763 Douglas County residents had been tested for the disease. The county test rate per 1,000 people was 431.6.