The Riley County Health Department has reported 123 new positive COVID-19 cases, one COVID-19-related death and 53 recoveries since Monday’s report.
This brings the total number of active cases in Riley County to 592 and recoveries to 447.
The death involved a 91-year-old male resident of the Homestead of Manhattan Assisted Living Facility who died at Stormont Vail hospital in Topeka. This brings the total number of COVID-19-related deaths in Riley County to six.
No outbreaks have been declared at the Homestead of Manhattan Assisted Living Facility and testing for staff and patients is ongoing.
108, or 88 percent, of the new positive tests in Riley County are associated with people who are 18 to 24-years old.
According to Andrew Adams, Riley County emergency preparedness coordinator, many of patients who have been recently surveyed are experiencing mild symptoms.
“Cough, sore throat, muscle ache, runny nose and then the loss of sense of taste and/or the loss of sense of smell,” Adams said during a news conference Wednesday. “A lot of the people that we’ve talked to, they’ve said ‘we thought we had allergies or we just thought we had a stuffy nose and then we couldn’t taste our coffee.”
Adams says patients often decided to get tested for COVID-19 after experiencing a loss of sense of smell or taste.
Officials are also reporting additional COVID-19 activity within K-State’s Greek community.
An outbreak has been identified at the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority at K-State, making it the 10th Greek house at K-State to be declared an outbreak location.
The Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority currently has six positive cases.
Ascension Via Christi hospital is currently caring for three patient who tested positive for COVID-19.
Pottawatomie County reported no new positive tests Wednesday, putting its total number of active cases at 14.
