Barton County saw 57 new cases – in 20 males and 37 females – of COVID-19 between Jan. 15 and Jan. 22, County Administrator Phil Hathcock reported Friday. This was similar to the previous week, when 53 new cases were reported. The county now lists total positive cases at 2,300, with 67 active positives.
To date, the county has issued 6,770 quarantine or isolation orders and 116 of those were active Friday. The cases include 972 males and 1,328 females. Of the new cases, one resides in Claflin, two in Ellinwood, 39 in Great Bend, five in Hoisington and 10 in rural Barton County.
The location and number of total positive cases, followed by the number currently active, follows:
• Albert 8 - 0
• Claflin 68 - 1
• Ellinwood 203 - 3
• Great Bend 1,412 - 40
• Hoisington 214 - 9
• Olmitz 12 - 0
• Pawnee Rock 14 - 0
• Rural Barton County 369 - 14
Great Bend USD 428
Great Bend USD 428 reports that the district was notified Thursday, Jan. 21, that a staff member at Helping Hands Preschool has tested positive. Two additional staff members and four students were identified as close contacts. Previously, on Jan. 18, the district learned that another staff member at the preschool had tested positive and 10 school contacts had been identified.
Pawnee County
The latest statistics from the Pawnee County Health Department show 48 new cases of COVID-19 reported within the past two weeks, including 26 cases in the past week.
Total active cases were 29 as of Tuesday, Jan. 19.
Total cases for Pawnee County reported by KDHE at that time were 1,077 which included residents in long-term care, Larned State Hospital and the Larned Correctional and Mental Health Facility. The county is operating at level Red on the COVID matrix which was adopted by county commissioners in early December. Pawnee County has been on a level Red status for nearly two months.
Fort Larned USD 495 reported eight students under quarantine at Larned Elementary School, two students at the middle school and three students at the high school. According to the report, the quarantined cases were from non-school exposure. No new school staff members have been quarantined.
Kansas Department of Corrections
An El Dorado Correctional Facility resident who died Thursday, Jan. 21, had tested positive for COVID-19. This is the 14th inmate death related to COVID-19 for the Kansas Department of Corrections.
The resident tested positive for the virus on Dec. 26, 2020, and was transferred to the hospital on Jan. 11. He was a 60-year-old white male serving a sentence of 25 years to life for first-degree murder. He had been imprisoned with KDOC since May 1999.
Statewide
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reports that Kansas has had 266,653 COVID-19 cases, resulting in 8,041 hospitalizations and 3,598 statewide deaths as of 9 a.m. Friday. There were 3,241 new cases, 23 new deaths and 111 new hospitalizations reported since Wednesday, Jan. 20.
Here are the case totals for area counties reported by KDHE, followed by the total deaths:
• Barton 2,466; 40
• Ellsworth 1,151; 18
• Pawnee 1,094; 10
• Rice 962; 5
• Rush 409; 10
• Russell 790; 21
• Stafford 314; 8
To date, Barton County has had 80 COVID-19 hospitalizations, including 19 intensive care unit (ICU) admissions and seven patients requiring mechanical ventilation. There have been 57 discharged patients. The data only includes cases with available discharge information reported to KDHE. Patients ranged in age from 0-9 years old to 85 and older.
Pawnee County has had 41 hospitalizations, including 19 ICU admissions. There have been 24 discharged patients reported to KDHE. Patients ranged in age from 25-34 years old to 85 and older.
State vaccinations
Kansas WebIZ is reporting 143,856 doses of vaccine have been administered in Kansas. As of noon Friday, 4.2% of all Kansans have been vaccinated.
National totals
The Centers for Disease Control reports there have been 24.5 million COVID-19 cases in the United States and a total of 408,697 deaths as of Friday.
