Spring is here, and even with COVID-19 still in the picture, spring activities have sprung.
So far, Lyon County has not seen a major spike in cases despite the county’s decision to make social distancing spaces and mass gathering limits strong recommendations instead of mandates over two weeks ago — and also after an extremely busy weekend on the community calendar April 10-11.
Lyon County Public Health Emergency Preparedness Director Jennifer Millbern is not advocating for events to come back off the calendar after a year where most activities either had to be canceled or change their formats. She is, however, encouraging residents to be smart about activities — whether planning them or attending them.
Millbern is tracking other states, which have seen a fourth increase in COVID cases over the last month. She says those increases are our warning in Kansas to be diligent about COVID-19 mitigation strategies like social distancing and mass gatherings, even though those are now strong recommendations due to changes in county policy.
Millbern also says Kansas has some of the COVID-19 variants that lead to easier virus transmission and more significant health issues than the original or “wild” version of the virus. Lyon County has confirmed one case of the so-called UK variant earlier this month.
If you have questions about Lyon County’s COVID-19 mitigation policies, call the Public Health COVID-19 Hotline at 620-208-3741. Millbern will be on Thursday’s Newsmaker segment at 7:15 am with another update on the county’s COVID-19 response effort.
