Sedgwick County officials concerned over increase in COVID-19 cases

Sedgwick County officials concerned over increase in COVID-19 cases

Sedgwick County officials concerned over increase in COVID-19 cases

Sedgwick County commissioners heard grim numbers on the coronavirus during their weekly staff meeting Tuesday.    County manager Tom Stolz said the percentage of positive cases is increasing dramatically.  He said the county is testing more but the percentage of positive cases per test is going up.

Stolz said the county is having more active cases than recoveries.  The county was reporting over 1,200 active cases on Tuesday with the number of recoveries at 940.  Stolz said recoveries are people who are symptom-free after 14 days, but what is unknown is whether they have continued to have problems with recurring symptoms, and there is no data available on that.

Stolz said local hospitals reported an increase from 32 to 54 coronavirus patients in a week’s time. He said hospitals have the ability to change with the environment to provide more capacity, but the main concern is staffing.

Commissioner Lacey Cruse said the commission will have to start thinking about what they will do as the board of health if the numbers continue to increase.   Stolz said the question will be how much regulation is needed to allow schools to reopen and allow the economy to continue to function.  He said it’s a slow moving process and policy changes can’t be determined until a cycle of 14 days has been completed to see what happens with the number of cases.

Sedgwick County health officer Dr. Garold Minns signed an order earlier this month to require the use of masks in public places, and the county is still limiting the size of mass gatherings to 45 or less.

Deputy county manager Tim Kaufman told commissioners that the county collected 904 samples last week, mostly from the drive-through testing site at the health department clinic at 2716 West Central.   He said after Tuesday’s testing, the site will be broken down and moved into a new location at 620 North Edgemoor.  Testing will be done at the new location on Thursday, July 16th.   A mobile team collected 173 samples Monday in Valley Center, and that unit will continue to provide testing across the county in the coming weeks.    Kaufman said the county has also made progress in contacting people about testing results, and people are now being contacted within 48 hours after the results are received from the lab.

 

 

 

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