Governor Laura Kelly announced Thursday her administration’s COVID-19 distribution order for population groups in Kansas. Kelly reported these phase groups were created using guidance from national and state public health experts and input from the Kansas Coronavirus Vaccine Advisory Council.
“The Barton County Health Department has collaborated with community partners to administer all of the vaccine allotted to the health department at this time,” County Administrator Phil Hathcock announced Friday. “This effort has fulfilled the majority of the KDHE (Kansas Department of Health and Environment) guidance to vaccinate health-care workers, emergency responders and other frontline workers as outlined in Phase 1 of the Governor’s plan.”
Kansas vaccination phases start with health-care workers; residents or patients in long-term care (LTC), senior housing or LTC-supported independent living; and workers critical to pandemic response continuity, all in Phase 1.
Phase 2 includes persons 65 years of age and older, congregate settings and high-contact critical workers.
Phase 3 includes people 16-64 years old with severe medical risks, and other critical workers.
Phase 4 includes people 16-64 years old with other medical risks.
Phase 5 is for the rest of the population age 16 or older. It will also include children, subject to further research on vaccine risks and effectiveness for children.
Hathcock said the county anticipates it will receive more vaccine in the near future, although he does not have a timeline. “We will work diligently to distribute these vaccines following the guidance of KDHE. The health department will be providing future information and instruction to the next vaccine recipients as soon as more doses arrive.”
As of 4 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 7, KDHE reports 56,480 does have been administered in Kansas. For the week of Jan. 11, the state anticipates it will receive another allocation of 17,500 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 17,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine.
County COVID report
Barton County released its latest COVID-19 report at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 8. The county had 58 new cases since the previous report at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 5, with a total of 2,190 positive cases to date. Of these, 147 were active.
The county has issued a total of 6,641 quarantine or isolation orders and 248 were active.
Of the 2,190 cases, 930 were males and 1,260 were females, an increase of 28 males and 30 females. Among the new cases, three reside in Claflin, three in Ellinwood, 25 in Great Bend, 12 in Hoisington, and 16 in rural Barton County. (The total count for Pawnee Rock was changed from 15 to 14.)
Total cases by residence, followed by the number of current active cases:
Albert 8 - 2
Claflin 67 - 4
Ellinwood 200 - 12
Great Bend 1,344 - 86
Hoisington 203 - 26
Olmitz 12 - 1
Pawnee Rock 14 - 0
Rural Barton County 342 - 16
COVID-19 cases in Kansas
KDHE reports there have been 242,322 COVID-19 cases in Kansas, resulting in 7,257 hospitalizations and 3,148 statewide deaths as of 9 a.m. Friday, Jan. 8. There were 5,504 new cases, 121 new deaths and 144 new hospitalizations reported since Wednesday, Jan. 6.
The state’s count of total positive and probable cases for area counties: Barton, 2,335; Ellsworth, 1,100; Pawnee, 1,033; Rice, 890; Rush, 365; Russell, 758; Stafford, 296.
The state’s count of total deaths for these counties: Barton, 37; Ellsworth, 14; Pawnee, 7; Rice, 4; Russell, 18; Stafford, 8.
