Shawnee County COVID cases, vaccines plateau; 86% cases unvaccinated cjonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cjonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Kansas was as high as 12.6% in April 2020.
And the COVID-19 pandemic brought higher-than-usual unemployment rates, which Melanie Bergers and the dispatch center in Shawnee County were hoping would mean an increase in applications for open positions.
No such influx of job inquiries ensued.
Bergers, director of communications at the Shawnee County Sheriff s Office, said the dispatch center was understaffed throughout 2020 and 2021, and typically paid about 600 hours of overtime every two weeks for the past year.
Twenty-three dispatchers are working at the center, leaving it at 60% staffing capacity Those numbers don t county American Medical Response employees who work out of the same building.
The CDC says fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks in most settings, including indoors. Here s the places in Shawnee County you still do.
This wasn t really a surprise Koksal s mother, Beth, works for a public health coalition in Garden City.
But Koksal didn t need any urging from his parents in order to be convinced to get the vaccine. It s an easy call for me to get the vaccine because, why not? Why wouldn t I? Koksal said. Why wouldn t I get it if I can help prevent the spread, you know, especially when I have a lot of people in my life that are vulnerable.
Now that he s been vaccinated, Koksal has become the de facto expert for his friends and classmates on what to expect if they get the shots.