Four Great Bend Schools were listed as COVID-19 exposure locations Wednesday on the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s COVID database. Stafford USD 349 was also on the list.
Every Wednesday, KDHE publishes the locations that have five or more COVID-19 cases with symptom onset in the last 14 days. For central Kansas, four of this week’s locations are Great Bend USD 428 schools:
• Great Bend High School has had 8 cases in the last 14 days; the last date of symptom onset was Oct. 14.
• Great Bend Middle School has had 5, the last on Oct. 10.
• Jefferson Elementary has had 5, the last on Oct. 16.
• Lincoln Elementary has had 5, the last on Oct. 8.
• Stafford USD 349 had 12 cases, the last on Oct. 17.
Great Bend USD 428 also tracks COVID-19 cases for its staff and students at each building and releases a weekly report. As of Monday, the district reports there were 25 active positive cases and there have been 122 resolved cases this semester. Here are the active and resolved cases by building:
GBHS 5 - 34
GBMS 3 - 19
Eisenhower 6 - 28
Little Panthers Preschool 0 - 3
Jefferson 7 - 12
Lincoln 2 - 15
Park 0 - 1
Riley 1 - 7
District Education Center 0 - 1
Helping Hands Preschool 0 - 0
Special Services 0 - 2
Area schools
KDHE also tracks COVID-19 cases and cumulative vaccination rates among school-age children (ages 5-17) by school district. Only children 12 years of age and older are eligible for COVID-19 vaccination. This information includes all cases of COVID-19 among school-aged children (not preschoolers) and does not necessarily indicate where a student was exposed or that transmission occurred in the school setting. Here are figures from some area schools for the period from Oct. 2-15:
• Central Plans USD 112 had two presumed student cases out of total student enrollment of 337, a rate of .45%. There were 51 presumed students vaccinated, a rate of 11.4%.
• Ellsworth USD 327 had 4 cases out of 577 student enrollment, a rate of .69%. There were 110 vaccinated, a rate of 19.1%.
• Stafford USD 349 had 8 cases out of 198 total enrollment, a rate of 4%. There were 11 students vaccinated, a rate of 5.6%.
• St. John-Hudson USD 350 had 1 case out of 301 students, a rate of .33%. There were 39 vaccinated, a rate of 13%.
• Macksville USD 351 had 0 cases out of 182 students. There were 12 students vaccinated, a rate of 6.6%.
• Ellinwood USD 355 had one presumed student case out of 531 total enrollment, a rate of 0.19%. The number of presumed vaccinated students was 42, a rate of 7.9%.
• Sterling USD 376 had 8 cases out of 472 students, a rate of 1.69%. There were 53 students vaccinated, a rate of 11.2%.
• La Crosse USD 395 had 0 cases out of 270 students. There were 24 vaccinated, a rate of 8.9%.
• Otis-Bison USD 403 had 0 cases out of 218 students. There were 6 vaccinated, a rate of 2.8%.
• Russell County USD 407 had 12 cases out of 798 students, a rate of 1.5%. There were 83 vaccinated, rate of 10.4%.
• Great Bend USD 428 had 34 presumed student cases out of 2,867 total enrollment for a rate of 1.19%. There were 291 presumed students vaccinated, a rate of 10.1%.
• Hoisington USD 431 had 2 cases out of 709 students, a rate of .28%. There were 42 vaccinated, a rate of 5.9%.
• Fort Larned USD 495 had 6 presumed student cases out of 802 total enrollment, a rate of 0.75%. There were 91 vaccinated, a rate of 11.3%.
• Pawnee Heights USD 426 had 0 cases out of 135 students. There were 8 vaccinated, a rate of 5.9%.
COVID overview
As of 9 a.m. Wednesday, Kansas has had 426,923 COVID-19 cases, resulting in 14,521 hospitalizations and 6,185 statewide deaths. There were 2,121 new cases, 77 new hospitalizations and 15 new deaths reported since Monday. There were no new deaths reported in the Golden Belt.
Here are the total area cases as of 9 a.m. Wednesday, and the change from Monday, Oct. 18:
• Barton 3,810 (+19)
• Ellsworth 1,367 (+9)
• Pawnee 1,451 (+10)
• Rice 1,439 (+7)
• Rush 504 (+4)
• Russell 1,100 (+23)
• Stafford 583 (+19)
This story was updated on Oct. 21 to include Stafford USD 349 as a cluster location.
