The Barton County Detention Center and Central Elementary School in Lyons were listed as COVID-19 exposure locations this past week, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Every Wednesday, KDHE publishes locations that have five or more COVID-19 cases with symptom onset dates in the last 14 days. The county jail has had six cases, with the last onset date being Aug. 29. The Lyons school also had six cases in the last 14 days, with the latest onset date on Aug. 25.
KDHE reported there are 21 active clusters in Kansas schools, but the only other one named was Mount Olive Lutheran School in Overland Park.
Barton County’s ranking drops
Barton County now ranks 87th out of 105 counties in the Kansas County COVID Ratings, created to help county commissioners and local leaders stop the spread of COVID-19 in their communities. When this report was first issued on Aug. 25, Barton County’s ranking was 79th.
The rankings combine three other rankings: for vaccination rate, average number of COVID cases over seven days per 100,000 population, and average number of COVID tests given over seven days per 100,000 population.
Barton County ranked 85th for the percentage of eligible population (12 years of age or older) who are fully vaccinated (41%); 66th for cases; and 57th for COVID-19 tests.
Pawnee County’s ranking improved from 40th to 19th. It ranks 25th for its vaccination rate (49%), 18th in cases per 100,000 population and 65th for COVID-19 tests.
Great Bend USD 428
Great Bend USD 428 updates its COVID-19 report weekly. On Wednesday, Sept. 1, the school district reported seven active cases: one at Great Bend High School, four at Eisenhower Elementary, one at Jefferson Elementary and one at Riley Elementary. The district also reported 12 resolved cases for the semester: five at GBHS, three at Great Bend Middle School, three at Lincoln Elementary and one at Park Elementary.
Barton County
Barton County Public Information Officer Donna Zimmerman released a new report from the County Health Department on Wednesday. There were 88 positive active cases and 156 active quarantine or isolation orders.
To date, there have been 2,853 positive cases and 7,590 quarantine/isolation orders.
The people with current active cases include one Albert resident, three Ellinwood residents, 58 Great Bend residents, 12 Hoisington residents, eight Pawnee Rock residents and six rural Barton County residents.
Statewide
As of 9 a.m. Friday, there have been 377,123 cases in Kansas, resulting in 12,921 hospitalizations and 5,630 statewide deaths. There were 3,952 new cases, 111 new hospitalizations and 49 new deaths reported since Wednesday, Sept. 1. In observance of Labor Day, KDHE statistics won’t be updated this Monday. The next update will occur on Wednesday, Sept. 8.
Here are the total confirmed and probable cases for area counties as of 9 a.m. Friday, and any change since last Monday, Aug. 30:
• Barton 2,991 (+57 since Monday)
• Ellsworth 1,283 (+4)
• Pawnee 1,215 (+9)
• Rice 1,211 (+38)
• Rush 465 (+6)
• Russell 938 (+11)
• Stafford 404 (+9)
No new deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported in area counties since Aug. 11.
Barton County has reported 101 COVID-19 related hospitalizations to date and Pawnee County has reported 53.
