Is the recent jump in COVID-19 numbers largely due to more testing?
This has been a consistent question throughout the nearly eight-month-long pandemic, and it has cropped up after Lyon County had two over 200 new cases, two daily records and an all-time high in active cases over the past week. However, Lyon County Public Health Emergency Preparedness Director Jennifer Millbern says more people are using the test lines because, well, they are sick.
Lyon County Health Officer Renee Hively says testing at the Flint Hills Community Health Center’s COVID test line went from around 25 per day to around 60 over the past week, and she says those residents displayed illness symptoms when they were being tested.
Both the Health Center and Newman Regional Health have test lines available, but those tests need a doctor’s order first. Starting Monday, the Health Center is adjusting its test line hours to 9 am-noon Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and 1-4 pm Wednesdays. The National Guard unit helping Public Health with the test line is in quarantine after one soldier contracted coronavirus, and the Health Center has had several staffers develop the virus as well.
