Photo by: Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health
Health Department COVID-19 January 15 Update
As of Friday, 3,337 first doses and 792 second doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Douglas County, according to the health department.
George Diepenbrock, a public health spokesman for Lawrence-Douglas County, said the first 3,337 doses were administered at LMH Health, Heartland, the health department, Haskell Indian Health Center and long-term care facilities. The second doses were administered at LMH Health.
“After receiving shipments this week, we are finally feeling that vaccine supplies have thickened,” said Dan Partridge, the director of the health department, in an email to 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 their first dose. Partridge also said that the Heartland Community Health Center received 1,000 doses and that the health department received 300 doses.
“At the moment, we are feeling very well that the state will be sending additional doses next week to cover more health professionals, and our hope is that we can finish Phase 1 in time for early February,” said Partridge.
Diepenbrock said Kansas added more people to Phase 1 last week – including “essential workers for the continuation of the pandemic response” and independent living communities for the elderly and long-term care. Due to these additions, Diepenbrock said Douglas County estimates that there are about 6,000 people left in Phase 1 who still need their first dose of the vaccine. He said that Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health is working with the state to determine who should be included in the group of “workers essential to continuing the response to the pandemic.”
As reported by Journal-World, people can sign up for an alert system to receive notifications about information about Douglas County vaccines. Previously, Unified Command identified two alert systems in the county. On Friday, Diepenbrock said the county decided to consolidate its efforts into an early warning system.
Those interested in subscribing to receive alerts should do so through Douglas County Emergency Management via dgcoks.org/emalerts.
Douglas County reported 7,470 cases of COVID-19 on 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, which means 1,217 cases are active.
The county has averaged about 63 new cases per day for the past 14 days, according to a 14-day moving average chart updated during the week by the health department. The current average of 63.29 new cases per day is below a recent high of 78 cases per day in mid-November and a recent low of 43 cases per day in December.
Douglas County has a 14-day COVID-19 incidence rate of 736.55 per 100,000 people.
Fifteen patients at Lawrence’s hospital had COVID-19 on Thursday, the same number as Wednesday. To date, 36 Douglas County residents have died of COVID-19.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment online map noted that 52,763 Douglas County residents have been tested for the disease to date. The county’s testing rate per 1,000 people was 431.6.