Staff Report
Dec. 17 COVID-19 update from the health department.
Douglas County reported 5,797 cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday, an increase of 57 cases since Wednesday.
In Douglas County, 4,866 out of the 5,797 cases are inactive or beyond the infectious period, according to Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, meaning 931 cases are active.
The county has averaged about 46 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 46 new cases per day is down from a recent high of 77 cases per day in mid-November and up from a recent low of 17 cases per day in mid-October.
photo by: Contributed photo
Shannon Fletcher, a respiratory therapist at LMH Health, was the first person to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at Lawrence s hospital on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020.
One month ago, LMH Health respiratory therapist Shannon Fletcher shared in a public message that she “broke down into tears” thinking about how the pandemic is so out of her control.
On Wednesday night, she was the first person to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at LMH Health.
It was exciting, Fletcher said, noting that she felt a “kind of relief.”
“We can see the light at the end of the tunnel and we know relief is in sight,” she said. “It makes me very hopeful for what we can see in the next year or so.”
Staff Report
Dec. 15 COVID-19 update from the health department
Douglas County reported 5,632 cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, an increase of 70 cases since Monday. Of those 70 cases, however, only 35 are new. The other 35 are older cases from November and early December that disease investigators recently determined should have been assigned to Douglas County, a news release from the local health department said.
In Douglas County, 4,720 out of the 5,632 cases are inactive or beyond the infectious period, according to Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, meaning 912 cases are active.
The county has averaged about 47 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 47.29 new cases per day is down from a recent high of 74 cases per day in mid-November and up from a recent low of 17 cases per day in mid-October.
photo by: AP File Photo
In this May 4, 2020, photo provided by the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the first patient enrolled in Pfizer s COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine clinical trial at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, receives an injection.
Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine has arrived in Kansas, but much is still unknown about the first phase of the distribution process in Douglas County.
The Food and Drug Administration authorized the vaccine for emergency use on Friday, and some health care workers in Wichita began receiving shots on Monday, according to The Associated Press. But it is unknown exactly when the vaccine will arrive at Lawrence’s hospital, as well as how many doses the county will receive, LMH Health spokeswoman Amy Northrop said. And while front-line health care workers and long-term care residents are first in line for the vaccine, it’s still unclear where other residents will fall on the list of priorities.
Staff Report
Dec. 14 COVID-19 update from the health department.
One more Douglas County resident has died from COVID-19, according to the local health department’s update on Monday.
The new death, which brings the total to 30, was a woman in the 85-plus age range who had been hospitalized at the time of death, health department spokesperson George Diepenbrock said.
Previously, Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health announced that 29 people one resident between the ages of 45 and 54, eight residents between the ages of 65 and 74, seven residents between the ages of 75 and 84 and 13 residents age 85 or older had died from COVID-19 or with the virus as a contributing factor in their deaths.