Earlier this week, Lyon County Public Health said the current spike in coronavirus cases was increasing at an “exponential” rate. Wednesday’s data set continued the recent trend.
Public Health said Lyon County had 299 new cases since Monday, meaning there have been 971 new cases since the first data set of the year announced Jan. 3. Active cases went from 480 Monday to 601 Wednesday, the highest the county has seen since Nov. 22, 2020 and rapidly approaching the county’s peak of 679 cases from Nov. 18, 2020.
Roughly a quarter of the active cases — 154 — are breakthroughs involving fully-vaccinated residents. There have been 835 total breakthrough cases since Lyon County started announcing that category last summer.
Public Health is also mentioning the same number of Variants of Concern — 156 — as it had Friday. Officially, the omicron variant has not been noted in Lyon or surrounding counties, even though it now accounts for over 95 percent of new cases nationwide. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment is sequencing 2-3 percent of the positive cases for variant status at this time, and it takes up to three days to confirm that status.
Lyon County’s death toll also increased by one and now stands at 99. Five deaths are now awaiting final cause information from the state.
Lyon County Public Health Emergency Preparedness Director Jennifer Millbern will have an update during Thursday’s KVOE Newsmaker segment at 7:15 am.
