Two people are dead, including one vaccinated person, from COVID-19 in Riley County

AJ Dome, The Manhattan Mercury, Kan.
·2 min read

Sep. 4—A 51-year-old unvaccinated woman died Friday at Ascension Via Christi hospital after testing positive for the coronavirus, officials said. That brings the total deaths from the virus in Riley County this week to three.

The 51-year-old unvaccinated woman tested positive Aug. 14.

The earlier deaths included a fully vaccinated 66-year-old man tested positive on Aug. 5 and later died on Aug. 19 at the hospital; and a 32-year-old woman who tested positive on Aug. 19 died at her home on Sunday. Officials don't know her vaccination status. That brings the total number of COVID-19 deaths in Riley County to 55.

Health department officials said Thursday they have identified 81 new positive cases of the coronavirus and 64 additional recoveries since Aug. 25. The county COVID-19 data dashboard did not have updated numbers on the virus at press time Friday.

Since December 2020, there have been 137 positive cases of the coronavirus in Riley County stemming from variants of concern, including the delta variant. Health officials did not say Friday how many of those positive cases were because of the delta variant. More than half of the active cases are among 18- to 34-year-olds locally.

There are 11 people hospitalized for COVID-19 in Ascension Via Christi as of Thursday.

Three patients are in intensive care while one is in the rehabilitation center.

Since the pandemic began, health officials have tallied 7,467 positive cases in the county. More than 7,200 people have recovered from the coronavirus.

The 14-day percent positive rate remains below 5%. Currently it's at 4.36%, and health officials said that figure fell one percentage point from the previous two weeks.

In Geary County there have been 4,318 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment on Friday. That's an increase of 109 cases since last Friday, Aug. 27.

Pottawatomie County reported 2,537 positive cases, an increase of 95 since last Friday.

Statewide there were 3,952 new cases, 49 new deaths, and 111 new hospitalizations reported since Wednesday.

In Kansas, 5,630 people have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began.