In light of recent increases of COVID-19 variant cases and now one death connected to a COVID variant, Lyon County Public Health is again urging unvaccinated residents to take the vaccine. It’s also making another request of unvaccinated residents.
Emergency Preparedness Director Jennifer Millbern says unvaccinated residents that are in public and not with members of their immediate family should wear masks in public.
This recommendation comes as Lyon County has 31 variant cases total, although the total has nearly doubled in the last two weeks — including 13 cases of the delta variant and 18 of the alpha variant. Officially, Lyon County has 86 confirmed deaths and two awaiting final cause information from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
This also comes as less than 42 percent of Lyon County’s total population is fully vaccinated. The percentage of Lyon County’s fully-vaccinated eligible residents ages 12-plus is at 48.9 percent, and no area county has passed 50 percent full vaccination for their eligible populations. A month ago, Millbern said trends were towards “a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” and she says that trend continues.
The person who passed away was an unvaccinated 60-year-old man.
Millbern says Public Health’s Facebook reports, announced Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, will be adjusted starting Friday with more information about infections among vaccinated and unvaccinated residents. The dashboard information available on www.publichealth.lyoncounty.org will not change at this time.
