The number of positive, active cases of COVID-19 in Barton County has risen to 127, according to a news release issued Tuesday afternoon by Donna Zimmerman, public information officer for the county. There are 228 active quarantine or isolation orders.
The locations of the active cases by residence, followed by total cases to date, are:
• Albert 3 - 14
• Claflin 0 - 71
• Ellinwood 7 - 242
• Great Bend 65 - 1,790
• Hoisington 32 - 302
• Olmitz 0 - 13
• Pawnee Rock 4 - 16
• Rural Barton County 16 - 485
To date, the county has had 2,941 positive cases – 1,274 males and 1,667 females, and 7,730 quarantine/isolation orders have been issued.
Great Bend USD 428
The Great Bend USD 428 district office updates its COVID-19 report weekly. As of Tuesday, there are 11 active positive cases and 17 resolved cases.
Active cases include four at Great Bend High School, one at Great Bend Middle School, three at Eisenhower Elementary, one at Lincoln Elementary and two at Riley Elementary.
Variants
The original “wild” variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, emerged from China. Since then, mutations have created “variants of interest.” The latest variant to be given a name is the mu variant.
On Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top disease expert in the United States, told Fox News that the delta variant makes up over 99% of the new cases in the nation but health officials are keeping an eye on the mu variant to see if it emerges to become more dominant.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment did not update its COVID statistic on Monday, due to the Labor Day holiday. The next update will be Wednesday.
Here are some KDHE statistics on variants from last Friday, Sept. 3
Here are the SARS-CoV-2 variants that have been detected to date in area counties:
• Barton - 54; 3 alpha and 51 delta; 71 specimens sequenced
• Ellsworth - 23; 1 alpha, 20 delta and 2 gamma; 34 specimens sequenced
• Pawnee - 2; 1 alpha and 1 delta; 5 specimens sequenced
• Rice - 24; 3 alpha and 21 delta; 25 specimens sequenced
• Rush - 3; 1 alpha and 2 delta; 3 specimens sequenced
• Russell - 19; 1 alpha and 18 delta; 21 specimens sequenced
• Stafford - 8; 8 delta; 8 specimens sequenced
Vaccination
As of Sept. 3, 1,532,575 Kansas – 52.6% of the population – had been vaccinated with at least one dose and 46.1% of Kansans had completed the COVID-19 vaccine series.
Here are the rates of people age 12 and above who have been vaccinated with at least one dose in area counties:
• Barton 50.34
• Ellsworth 58.43
• Pawnee 55.00
• Rice 47.66
• Rush 53.46
• Russell 49.13
• Stafford 48.08
