For the second consecutive week, Great Bend USD 428 started the week with zero active positive cases of COVID-19 in any of its buildings. The school district posted its weekly update at 9:15 a.m. Monday.

There were no active actives the week before and only one active case, at Great Bend Middle School, the week before that.

Meanwhile, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment has reported a statewide decrease in new positive cases. Its online data dashboard that reports the number of cases by county has stopped offering updates on Mondays and Wednesdays, and now updates the data once a week, on Fridays.

As of 9 a.m. Friday, April 1, 4,256,495 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Kansas. Statewide, 62.4% of Kansans have been vaccinated with one dose and 54.2% have completed the COVID-19 vaccine series. Those percentages are lower in every county west of I-135 except Kearny and Finney counties.

In Barton County, 50.92% of population have been vaccinated with at least one dose and 46.63% – 12,022 residents – have completed the vaccine series. At the county level, the state also provides the vaccination rate for people 5 years of age and older, since younger children are not yet eligible for the vaccine. In that case, 54.09% of the Barton County population has had at least one dose and 49.54% are fully vaccinated.