Barton County Public Information Officer Donna Zimmerman reported 22 new positive cases of COVID-19 at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 2. This represents 10 males and 12 females from the following locations: one resides in Claflin, 10 in Great Bend, one in Hoisington and 10 in rural Barton County.
To date, Barton County has had 300 positive cases; 98 of those are active (up from 76 on Monday) and there have been five COVID-19 related deaths. The county has issued 2,163 quarantine or isolation orders and 659 of those are active (up from 491 on Monday).
The location by residence, total cases and number of current active cases are:
Claflin - 12 - 8
Ellinwood - 17 - 1
Great Bend - 147 - 41
Hoisington - 55 - 10
Olmitz - 1 - 0
Pawnee Rock - 2 - 0
Rural Barton County - 66 - 38
Statewide
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment last updated state COVID-19 statistics Wednesday morning. As of 9 a.m. Sept. 2, Kansas has had 43,940 cases, resulting in 2,361 hospitalizations and 458 deaths. There have been 375,307 negative tests.
KDHE shows Barton County has had 11 people hospitalized due to COVID-19. Two were 45-54 years old, three were 55-64, three were 65-74 and three were 85+ years of age. Four were Intensive Care Unit admissions, two were placed on mechanical ventilation and eight have been discharged. This data only includes cases with available discharge information reported to KDHE.
Pawnee County has had four hospitalizations and two have been discharged. Two were 65-74 years old and two were 75-84 years old.
On Wednesday, Governor Laura Kelly’s office announced Kansas will begin publicly disclosing the names and locations of COVID-19 clusters, starting Sept. 9.
Area health departments
Here are recent social media posts from area counties.
• Pawnee County Weekly COVID-19 post Sept. 1
Total cases including residents at Larned Correctional Mental Health facility: 212 (This is estimated KDHE is working on correction of an error.)
Cumulative positive cases Pawnee County Community: 52
Cases currently active: 16
Cases identified in the last 7 days: 13
Cases identified in last 14 days: 23
Current Pawnee County Level: Orange
Continue to protect yourself by maintaining distance, regular hand hygiene, not touching your face and wearing a mask.
• Stafford County, 5 p.m. Sept. 2:
Active quarantine/isolation orders 89
Total Positive cases 42
Active Positive cases 15
Deaths 1
• Ellsworth County, Aug. 26
Total reported positive cases 25
Active cases 2
Recovered cases 23
Hospitalizations 0
Deaths 0
• Rice County, Sept. 2
Positive cases 44
Active cases 1 in Lyons
Recovered cases 42
Current hospitalizations 0
COVID-related deaths 1
• Rush County, Aug. 31
As of Aug. 31, Rush County has tested 315, out of those 23 have been positive with 3 that are still active and in isolation. We have 20 that have recovered.
If you would like additional information, please visit https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/.
• Russell County, Sept. 2
Russell County is currently experiencing 2 cluster outbreaks. Both facilities have employees that have tested positive and in the case of Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas (DSNWK), residents that have tested positive. Those that have tested positive have been contacted to obtain a list of individuals that they have had close contact with. The sad part is we do not get a complete list of names due to many reasons ranging from forgetting who they have been in contact with to absolutely refusing. We cannot force them to give names, but highly encourage to minimize the potential community spread. If you believe you have had close contact (within 6 feet for 10 minutes or longer), please call the health department. The cases that are positive continue to have mild symptoms and are isolated at their residence.
Luckily and thankfully, this virus continues to remain away from our long-term facilities and hopefully it continues. The long-term facilities have closed to visitors at this time to reduce the potential spread within the facilities. The morbidity and mortality in these facilities is high and we must do all we can to keep the residents safe.
Current counts for Russell County as of 4 p.m. Sept. 2:
• Active and isolated — 26
• Recovered — 24
• Total cases — 50
• Quarantined — 68
• Pending results — 5
• Currently Hospitalized — 0
• Deaths — 0
• Negative results — 843
• Testing rate — 13%
The positive test results are different than what KDHE has reported due to the fact many of the results came across throughout the day today. What is reported here is current numbers.
On Aug. 27, The Russell County Health Department reported there have been positive cases from the cities of Russell, Lucas, Luray, Gorham and Paradise as well as individuals in the rural areas.
