Riley County is reporting two more COVID related deaths this week.
A 68 year-old unvaccinated male tested positive January 7 and died on January 15 at Ascension Via Christi Hospital in Manhattan. A 98 year-old unvaccinated female tested positive January 10 and died on January 14. This brings the total number of deaths in the county since the beginning of the pandemic to 70.
Riley County has identified 636 new COVID cases and 595 additional recoveries since last week’s report. There are currently 1,056 active cases in Riley County. The percent of positive test results rose slightly from 20.19% to 22.52% for the last two-week period.
The 1,653 new cases identified since January 1 represent 15% of all the cases in Riley County since the start of the pandemic.
Ascension Via Christi is currently caring for 19 COVID-positive patients. Five patients, four of whom are unvaccinated, are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and four of the patients are on ventilators. Of the 14 additional patients on the medical floor, 8 are unvaccinated.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) drive-through testing site at Manhattan Town Center closed at noon today and will be closed tomorrow, Jan 20 due to the extreme cold. The test site will move indoors to Pottorf Hall in CiCo Park, on Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.. so testing can continue during the winter weather
However, it is being reported that testing results from KDHE are taking at least seven days to process due to the high volume of testing.
