Posted By: George Lawson April 28, 2021 @ 3:37 pm Local News, News
Kansas health officials said Wednesday that a variant of the COVID-19 virus has been detected in Cowley County. The P.1 variant is known to be more infectious, and may cause more severe disease.
It’s not known how widespread the variant may be, so free COVID-19 testing will be offered in Cowley County. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment will conduct the tests Saturday, May 1st from 9 a.m. to noon at the Cowley County Health and Safety Fair. That will be held at the Arkansas City Agri-Business Center at 712 West Washington Avenue.
COVID-19 variant found in Cowley County, free testing to be offered
Kansas health officials said Wednesday that a variant of the COVID-19 virus has been detected in Cowley County. The P.1 variant is known to be more infectious, and may cause more severe disease.
It’s not known how widespread the variant may be, so free COVID-19 testing will be offered in Cowley County. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment will conduct the tests Saturday, May 1st from 9 a.m. to noon at the Cowley County Health and Safety Fair. That will be held at the Arkansas City Agri-Business Center at 712 West Washington Avenue.
The first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine arrived at William Newton Hospital in Winfield on Wednesday, and will be administered to front line staff who directly care for or come in close proximity to COVID-19 positive patients.
The hospital received around 145 doses of the vaccine at around 1 p.m. Wednesday and began giving them to employees on Thursday morning, according to an email from Cowley County Health Officer Tom Langer. The hospital also posted on its Facebook page Thursday morning that it had received the vaccine and begun administering it to workers.
The doses are of the recently-approved vaccine from manufacturer Pfizer, which is administered in two different shots, with the second one taking place three weeks after the initial dose.