Lyon County saw a modest increase in new COVID-19 cases Wednesday after a near week-long layoff in reporting.
Lyon County Public Health reported 20 new cases since Friday bringing the overall total to 4,003 since last March. 15 new recoveries were reported slightly raising the active case total to 100 after dropping to 95 on Friday.
Deaths remained steady at 75 plus four cases pending final cause information from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Active hospitalizations increased from one to two between reporting periods.
The new report comes as phase two vaccinations continue in Lyon County. During KVOE’s weekly COVID vaccination briefing Monday morning, Public Health Incident Commander Renee Hively discussed the county’s first second dose vaccination clinic which took place Saturday.
Hively says the process went very smoothly, likely due to the fact that patients had already been through the initial process before. At this time, Public Health is gearing up for another set of vaccination clinics this week with an initial dose clinic on Thursday and a secondary clinic on Friday.
There has been a large number of reports of a robust effect from the secondary doses across the country in recent weeks. Hively reports they have yet to hear of any such reactions locally, however, it is an expected and normal occurrence.
She says the onset of symptoms typically occur eight hours following the administration of secondary doses.
If patients do experience these effects and it persists for longer than 24 hours, Hively says residents should contact Public Health or their doctor and inquire about getting tested for COVID-19. She says it is still possible for those who have received the vaccine to contract COVID as it takes roughly two weeks after the secondary dose for patients to become “fully protected.”
At this time, Public Health has 700 available doses with 100 set aside for education staff in the local community. As KVOE has reported in recent weeks, 10 percent of all COVID vaccination allocations will now be set aside for education staff for the foreseeable future.
Thursday’s vaccination clinic will run from 8 am to 5:30 pm and Friday’s will take place from 8 am to 6 pm. Both clinics will be held at the Bowyer Community Building.
The next COVID-19 Vaccination Briefing will be at 8:20 am next Monday on KVOE and KVOE.com. Meanwhile, Lyon County Public Health Emergency Preparedness Director Jennifer Millbern will have an overall COVID-19 response update on KVOE’s Newsmaker segment at 7:15 am Thursday.
