Riley County health officials are monitoring 72 active COVID-19 cases, as the percent positive has fallen to under 6 percent locally.
The health department says it added 10 new positive cases between Friday and Monday and 45 additional recoveries. Ascension Via Christi has no COVID positive patients currently in its care. It’s been seven months since the first case was reported locally, and in that time 2,045 Riley County residents have tested positive and 11 residents have died from the virus.
While much of the state is seeing a surge in new coronavirus cases, Riley County has gone the opposite direction since reaching a high percent positive rate of 34.5 percent the week of Aug. 23. For the week of Oct. 11, that rate fell to 5.9 percent with 60 positive cases recorded out of 1,019 total tests. The percent positive rate is an indication of how the virus is spreading in the community.
The health department also reports that 277 people took part in free testing events in Manhattan over the weekend. So far 173 results have been received with only two tests coming back positive.
The Riley State Bank in Riley has been declared a new area of outbreak. Six cases were identified recently at that location, with the most recent positive tests taking place Oct. 14.
There are currently 10 active outbreaks in Riley County.
