Barton County Commission meeting at a glance
Here is a quick look at what the Barton County Commission did Monday morning:
• Heard a report from Sunflower Diversified Services Executive Director Jon Prescott on the Local Recycling Grant Sunflower Diversified Services receives each year.
In 2019, the commission granted Sunflower $15,000 for recycling with an understanding that the funds would be utilized for local recycling programs. The funding was paid, in full, from the Solid Waste Budget.
• Approved a lease agreement with Kirby and Linda Linsner for Road and Bridge Department storage.
The department wanted to expand a current lease from one to approximately five acres in Albion Township northwest of Hoisington, on NW 150 Road, to store materials and equipment used for the construction and maintenance of roadways.
The land is leased from the Linsners, and the updated lease was extended to October 2025, with an annual payment of $850. County Administrator Phil Hathcock.
• Approved the renewal of the county’s computer content filter system.
Barton County uses a content filter system for all county facilities regardless of location, said Dereck Hollingshead, network administrator/IT service technician. The current cloud-based security platform provides multiple levels of defense against internet-based threats and extends protection from the network to branch offices to roaming users.
The cost is $12,772.40 for three years from SHI of Somerset, N.J.
In terms of the COVID-19 pandemic, Barton County is paying the price for the Independence Day celebrations, Health Director Karen Winkelman told County Commissioners Monday morning. She also somberly reported that the county’s positive case count has jumped to 75 with the third virus-related death confirmed over the weekend.
There are 19 active cases. The number of active quarantine/isolation orders is now 171.
“I stood before you right before the Fourth of July,” she said, noting that she predicted a spike in positive cases of the virus would result. “And it definitely is showing now.”
There were a lot of gatherings, large and small, and a lot of celebrations, and the two-week incubation period has passed. “And even though those events may have been perfectly planned as far as social distancing and wearing masks, it’s sometimes after the event that the congregating happens and we’ve noticed a lot of that,” she said.
“Fourth of July parties have brought up our quarantine orders drastically because of people being positive and attending events,” Winkelman said. There were 58 cases on July 8 with 643 quarantine/isolation orders issued, 59 of which were active.
Statewide, it was announced Friday that Kansas saw an increase of over 1,000 cases from Wednesday to Friday. “That doesn’t look real good for our state,” she said.
In fact, Kansas sits at 18th in terms of the most new cases out of the 50 states, she said. We fall on some state’s travel quarantine lists.
On Monday, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported the total cases in Kansas were 23,334 with 1,497 hospitalizations and 307 deaths. There have been 238,197 negative tests.
In the meantime, Winkelman said the Health Department has racked up 58 hours of overtime in the past two weeks, most of that for nursing and much of it COVID related. “It’s not a Monday through Friday job anymore.”
She said the nurses were checking in to see if she needs help. Someone also has to monitor the KDHE’s COVID-19 surveillance site since the state no longer contacts counties about positive cases.
Winkelman has been working with county Grant Coordinator Sue Cooper to secure grant funding to help with payroll, equipment, resources for those in quarantine and for additional testing capabilities.
“Everybody is working together,” she said. It not only has involved the Health Department, but other departments as well, from seeking funding to help from County Administrator Phil Hathcock and county Public Information Officer Donna Zimmerman in issuing news releases.
“I do have one thing was that happened last week that kind of just put it all in perspective as to how some of the partners work together,” she said. “We had an individual who was a confirmed case and remained in one of our hospitals in Barton County.”
That patient was prescribed remdesivir, a medication that is being used for treatment of the virus. “It is not just stocked on the shelves of facilities,” she said, noting it took a coordinated effort to get it here.
Emergency Risk Manager Amy Miller made the request to the state on behalf of the hospital. It was approved and National Guard took the lead and brought it in to the hospital via Blackhawk helicopter.
“It all happened in one day. So that was pretty phenomenal,” Winkelman said. “That was pretty neat to see how that all played out and how how it really does work even for us.”
That treatment continues for that individual as an inpatient.
