Riley County Health Department says COVID variants are becoming more prevalent

Hailey Phillips, The Manhattan Mercury, Kan.
·2 min read

Jun. 16—The Riley County Health Department says coronavirus variants are "beginning to become more prevalent" in the county.

Officials reported 17 variant cases in the county as of Wednesday.

Riley County recorded four new variant cases since Monday. One is associated with the United Kingdom variant and three are "variant of interest" case, called the B.1.617.2. Scientists first detected this variant of interest in India. This is a variant with "specific genetic markers" that has shown a predicted increase in transmission or illness severity, KDHE said. RCHD said health officials now call this the Delta variant.

The county on Wednesday confirmed 32 new coronavirus cases in one week. That is an increase of 12 from the last update June 9, when the county reported 20 new cases. County spokeswoman Alice Massimi said there is "no specific" reason for the increase in cases compared to last week.

Riley County's total Wednesday was 6,643 cases, Massimi said. Of those, 40 were active and 6,560 had recovered since the pandemic started in March 2020. An additional 14 people had recovered from coronavirus since June 9. Forty-three people have died after testing positive for the virus.

Ascension Via Christi hospital in Manhattan had three patients with coronavirus in its care on Wednesday, Massimi said. One was in the intensive care unit.

The county's rate of positive tests went up 3.34 percentage points from the previous week. From June 6-12, the county reported a rate of 6.7%. From May 30-June 5, the rate was 3.36%. The two-week average was 5.05%.

RCHD had fully vaccinated 21,596 people, as of Wednesday. RCHD said 634 people had received at least one dose of the vaccine Wednesday. This doesn't include vaccines given out by the hospital, grocery pharmacies and other local entities.

In total, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) said 30,753 people or 41.4% of Riley County residents have received at least one dose. KDHE said 27,889 people or 37.5% of Riley County residents are fully vaccinated, as of Wednesday. The U.S. Census Bureau said Riley County's population in 2019 was 74,232.

KDHE did not record any outbreaks statewide Wednesday.

Since Monday, Geary County added three new cases of the U.K. variant for a total of 21. Pottawatomie County added one case of the B.1.617.2 variant for seven total cases.

In total, Geary County confirmed 18 new coronavirus cases since Monday. The county recorded a total of 3,563 cases Wednesday. Pottawatomie County added seven new cases for 1,967 total Wednesday.

Since Monday, Kansas recorded 329 new cases, 35 hospitalizations and three deaths, according to KDHE. The state recorded a total of 316,343 cases, 10,926 hospitalizations and 5,128 deaths since the pandemic began, KDHE said Wednesday.