Health officials confirmed 40 new positive cases of COVID-19 on Friday, Barton County Public Information Officer Donna Zimmerman said. Her report at 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 18 updated last Wednesday’s statistics.
The new cases included eight males and 32 females; 12 reside in Ellinwood, 22 in Great Bend, one is Pawnee Rock and five in rural Great Bend.
As of Friday, the county has had 179 males and 248 females test positive, for a total of 427. There are 130 active cases and there have been five COVID-19 related deaths.
The county has issued 2,694 quarantine or isolation orders and 498 of those remain active.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s coronavirus website shows an increase in the number of Barton County residents who have been hospitalized with COVID-19 over the course of the pandemic. The number was 16 on Sept. 16 and increased to 21 on Friday. These have included six intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, four patients placed on mechanical ventilation and 11 patients that KDHE knows have been discharged.
Barton County is in KDHE’s south-central region, which has a total of 402 ICU beds in 31 hospitals. Taking into account all patients in ICU beds (not just COVID-19), 33% of the region’s ICU bed remain available and 82% of the ventilators are available.
Kansas has had 52,285 confirmed or probable positive cases, resulting in 2,671 hospitalizations and 596 statewide deaths. There have been 422,464 negative tests. There were 1,415 new cases and 10 new deaths reported since Wednesday, Sept. 16.
Barton County
In Barton County, the location of cases by residence, total cases and active cases, are:
Claflin 12 - 0
Ellinwood 50 - 32
Great Bend 208 - 62
Hoisington 59 - 5
Olmitz 1 - 0
Pawnee Rock 5 - 2
Rural Barton County 92 - 23
Great Bend USD 428
Great Bend USD 428 also updated its COVID-19 information on the district website at the end of the week. On Thursday, Sept. 17, the district was notified that a student tested positive at Lincoln Elementary School and 13 additional quarantine orders were expected. The district was also notified that a staff member at Great Bend Middle School had tested positive but there was no student or staff exposure and no additional quarantines were required.
