Four months after the first novel coronavirus case was reported in Riley County, local health officials still find themselves trying to curb the spread while also monitoring a new outbreak at a Manhattan care facility.
As of Monday, Riley County Health Department Director Julie Gibbs said the county had totaled just under 400 cases since the first report positive test came into the department March 20, 111 which are active and 281 which are listed as recovered. Still, though many are getting tested and having to wait for the results, some as many as 10 days from the time they get tested.
“That’s entirely too long. We know that the lab is backed up as of right now and that’s the story of many labs across the state. We hope to get that under control soon,” Gibbs said.
The county was awaiting results of 216 tests as of Monday morning. More than 3,200 have tested negative for the virus.
Three COVID positive patients are at Ascension Via Christi but Gibbs says it’s unclear if those are all Riley County residents. On Friday, an outbreak was reported at Meadowlark Hills. Eight individuals, including seven residents and one staff member tested positive. Gibbs says despite, this Meadowlark has managed things as well as they could.
“They’re handling things very well. They have a good protocol and have had it in place for many years now, so they have a good way of handling that, but we’ll keep an eye on that,” she said.
The outbreak comes more than a month after a similar outbreak was reported at the Leonardville Nursing Home. Those patients have since made recoveries.
A majority of residents who tested positive at Meadowlark are reported as asymptomatic, having been tested due to close contact with a positive individual. Around 80 residents and staff have been tested as a result.
Riley County typically releases its daily statistics at noon. Pottawatomie County releases its data at 4 p.m.
The post Four months into pandemic, Riley County continues work at flattening curve appeared first on News Radio KMAN.
