The Riley County Health Department has confirmed 140 new positive COVID-19 cases and 42 additional recoveries since Monday’s report.
Ascension Via Christi is caring for 15 positive patients, three of which are in the Intensive Care Unit. The county currently has 381 active cases. The percent positive rate for the week of Dec. 27 through Jan. 2 was 14.5 percent, and the previous two-week average is roughly 12.6 percent.
The health department is not expecting to receive any additional doses of the COVID-19 vaccines to arrive this week and says only a couple hours notice is given to health departments before the shipment arrives. Local Health Officer Julie Gibbs says so far all of the coronavirus vaccine doses received have been distributed. The state reportedly receives an update on Mondays how many doses it will receive then works to distribute the vaccines across the state.
In order to finish the process of vaccinating all health care workers when those shipments arrive, Gibbs requests all healthcare organizations and independently contracted licensed healthcare providers to email their prioritization spreadsheets to covid19vaccine@rileycountyks.gov.
