By HANNAH RECHT <a href="https://dailymontanan.com/2022/12/12/paxlovid-has-been-free-now-comes-the-sticker-shock/">Kaiser Health News, courtesy Daily Montanan</a>

Nearly 6 million Americans have taken Paxlovid for free, courtesy of 
the federal government. The Pfizer pill has helped prevent many people 
infected with COVID-19 from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7148e2.htm">being hospitalized</a> or dying, and it may even <a target="_blank" href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.03.22281783v1">reduce the risk</a>
 of developing long COVID. But the government plans to stop footing the 
bill within months, and millions of people who are at the highest risk 
of severe illness and are least able to afford the drug — the uninsured 
and seniors — may have to pay the full price.

And that means fewer people will get the potentially lifesaving treatments, experts said.

“I think the numbers will go way down,” said Jill Rosenthal, director
 of public health policy at the Center for American Progress, a 
left-leaning think tank. A bill for several hundred dollars or more 
would lead many people to decide the medication isn’t worth the price, 
she said.

In response to the unprecedented public health crisis caused by 
COVID, the federal government spent billions of dollars on developing 
new vaccines and treatments, to swift success: Less than a year after 
the pandemic was declared, medical workers got their first vaccines. But
 as many people have refused the shots and stopped wearing masks, the 
virus still rages and mutates. In 2022 alone, 250,000 Americans <a target="_blank" href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_totaldeaths_select_00">have died</a> from COVID, <a target="_blank" href="https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Monthly-Provisional-Counts-of-Deaths-by-Select-Cau/9dzk-mvmi/data">more than</a> from strokes or diabetes.

But soon the Department of Health and Human Services will stop 
supplying COVID treatments, and pharmacies will purchase and bill for 
them the same way they do for antibiotic pills or asthma inhalers. 
Paxlovid is expected to hit the private market in mid-2023, according to
 HHS plans shared in an October meeting with state health officials and 
clinicians. Merck’s Lagevrio, a less-effective COVID treatment pill, and
 AstraZeneca’s Evusheld, a preventive therapy for the immunocompromised,
 are on track to be commercialized sooner, sometime in the winter.

The U.S. government has so far purchased <a target="_blank" href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/04/26/fact-sheet-biden-administration-increases-access-to-covid-19-treatments-and-boosts-patient-and-provider-awareness/">20 million courses</a>
 of Paxlovid, priced at about $530 each, a discount for buying in bulk 
that Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla called “really very attractive” to the 
federal government in a July earnings call. The drug will cost far more 
on the private market, although in a statement to KHN, Pfizer declined 
to share the planned price. The government will also stop paying for the
 company’s COVID vaccine next year — those shots will <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/pfizer-covid-cash-marketing-drugs/">quadruple in price</a>, from the discount rate the government pays of $30 to about $120.

Bourla told investors in November that he expects the move will make 
Paxlovid and its COVID vaccine “a multibillion-dollars franchise.”

Nearly <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/11/28/covid-who-is-dying/">9 in 10 people</a> dying from the virus now are 65 or older. Yet federal law restricts Medicare Part D — the prescription drug program that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/medicare-beneficiaries-enrolled-in-part-d-coverage/?currentTimeframe=0&amp;sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D">covers nearly 50 million seniors</a>
 — from covering the COVID treatment pills. The medications are meant 
for those most at risk of serious illness, including seniors.

Paxlovid and the other treatments are currently available under an 
emergency use authorization from the FDA, a fast-track review used in 
extraordinary situations. Although Pfizer <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-announces-submission-new-drug-application-us-fda">applied for full approval</a>
 in June, the process can take anywhere from several months to years. 
And Medicare Part D can’t cover any medications without that full stamp 
of approval.

Paying out-of-pocket would be “a substantial barrier” for seniors on 
Medicare — the very people who would benefit most from the drug, wrote <a target="_blank" href="https://aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1072f5093254224ac902ca395387085c/coverage-considerations-covid-19.pdf">federal health experts</a>.

“From a public health perspective, and even from a health care 
capacity and cost perspective, it would just defy reason to not continue
 to make these drugs readily available,” said Dr. Larry Madoff, medical 
director of Massachusetts’ Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory 
Sciences. He’s hopeful that the federal health agency will find a way to
 set aside unused doses for seniors and people without insurance.

In mid-November, the White House requested that Congress approve an 
additional $2.5 billion for COVID therapeutics and vaccines to make sure
 people can afford the medications when they’re no longer free. But 
there’s little hope it will be approved — the Senate <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/senate-votes-to-end-covid-19-emergency-declaration-11668559887">voted that same day to end</a> the public health emergency and denied similar requests in recent months.

Many Americans have already faced hurdles just <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/test-to-treat-biden-covid-failing-patients-pharmacies-cvs/">getting a prescription</a> for COVID treatment. Although the federal government <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/paxlovid-covid-pill-antiviral-access-data/">doesn’t track</a> who’s gotten the drug, a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7143a2.htm">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study</a>
 using data from 30 medical centers found that Black and Hispanic 
patients with COVID were much less likely to receive Paxlovid than white
 patients. (Hispanic people can be of any race or combination of races.)
 And when the government is no longer picking up the tab, experts 
predict that these gaps by race, income, and geography will widen.

People in Northeastern states used the drug far more often than those
 in the rest of the country, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis 
of Paxlovid use in September and October. But it wasn’t because people 
in the region were getting sick from COVID at much higher rates — 
instead, many of those states offered better <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus/report.htm">access to health care</a> to begin with and created special programs to get Paxlovid to their residents.

About 10 mostly Democratic states and several large counties in the 
Northeast and elsewhere created free “test-to-treat” programs that allow
 their residents to get an immediate doctor visit and prescription for 
treatment after testing positive for COVID. In Massachusetts, more than 
20,000 residents have used the state’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mass.gov/info-details/free-telehealth-for-covid-19-treatment-with-paxlovid">video and phone hotline</a>,
 which is available seven days a week in 13 languages. Massachusetts, 
which has the highest insurance rate in the country and relatively low 
travel times to pharmacies, had the second-highest Paxlovid usage rate 
among states this fall.

States with higher COVID death rates, like Florida and Kentucky, 
where residents must travel farther for health care and are more likely 
to be uninsured, used the drug less often. Without no-cost test-to-treat
 options, <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/test-to-treat-biden-covid-failing-patients-pharmacies-cvs/">residents have struggled</a> to get prescriptions even though the drug itself is still free.

“If you look at access to medications for people who are uninsured, I
 think that there’s no question that will widen those disparities,” 
Rosenthal said.

People who get insurance through their jobs could face high copays at
 the register, too, just as they do for insulin and other expensive or 
brand-name drugs.

Most private insurance companies will end up covering COVID 
therapeutics to some extent, said Sabrina Corlette, a research professor
 at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms. After 
all, the pills are cheaper than a hospital stay. But for most people who
 get insurance through their jobs, there are “really no rules at all,” 
she said. Some insurers could take months to add the drugs to their 
plans or decide not to pay for them.

And the additional cost means many people will go without the medication.

“We know from lots of research that when people face cost sharing for
 these drugs that they need to take, they will often forgo or cut back,”
 Corlette said.

One group doesn’t need to worry about sticker shock. Medicaid, the 
public insurance program for low-income adults and children, will cover 
the treatments in full until at least early 2024.

HHS officials could set aside any leftover taxpayer-funded medication
 for people who can’t afford to pay the full cost, but they haven’t 
shared any concrete plans to do so. The government purchased 20 million 
courses of Paxlovid and 3 million of Lagevrio. Fewer than a third have 
been used, and usage has fallen in recent months, according to KHN’s 
analysis of the data from HHS.

Sixty percent of the government’s supply of Evusheld is also still available, although the COVID prevention therapy is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-releases-important-information-about-risk-covid-19-due-certain-variants-not-neutralized-evusheld">less effective</a> against new strains of the virus. The health department in one state, <a target="_blank" href="https://files.constantcontact.com/8088728e101/558b11b0-e00f-47d7-8ec1-645904ec1905.pdf">New Mexico</a>, has recommended against using it.

HHS did not make officials available for an interview or answer written questions about the commercialization plans.

The government created a potential workaround when they moved 
bebtelovimab, another COVID treatment, to the private market this 
summer. It now retails for $2,100 per patient. The agency set aside the 
remaining 60,000 government-purchased doses that hospitals could use to 
treat uninsured patients in a convoluted <a target="_blank" href="https://aspr.hhs.gov/COVID-19/Therapeutics/Products/Bebtelovimab/Pages/default.aspx">dose-replacement process</a>. But it’s hard to tell how well that setup would work for Paxlovid: Bebtelovimab was already much less popular, and the FDA <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-announces-bebtelovimab-not-currently-authorized-any-us-region">halted its use</a> on Nov. 30 because it’s less effective against current strains of the virus.

Federal officials and insurance companies would have good reason to 
make sure patients can continue to afford covid drugs: They’re far 
cheaper than if patients land in the emergency room.

“The medications are so worthwhile,” said Madoff, the Massachusetts 
health official. “They’re not expensive in the grand scheme of health 
care costs.”

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.khn.org/about-us">KHN</a> 
(Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth 
journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and 
Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/about-us">KFF</a> (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670875530434.png" alt="CDC image" />
 <figcaption>CDC image</figcaption>
 </figure>By HANNAH RECHT <a href="https://dailymontanan.com/2022/12/12/paxlovid-has-been-free-now-comes-the-sticker-shock/">Kaiser Health News, courtesy Daily Montanan</a>Nearly 6 million Americans have taken Paxlovid for free, courtesy of 
the federal government. The Pfizer pill has helped prevent many people 
infected with COVID-19 from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7148e2.htm">being hospitalized</a> or dying, and it may even <a target="_blank" href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.03.22281783v1">reduce the risk</a>
 of developing long COVID. But the government plans to stop footing the 
bill within months, and millions of people who are at the highest risk 
of severe illness and are least able to afford the drug — the uninsured 
and seniors — may have to pay the full price.And that means fewer people will get the potentially lifesaving treatments, experts said.“I think the numbers will go way down,” said Jill Rosenthal, director
 of public health policy at the Center for American Progress, a 
left-leaning think tank. A bill for several hundred dollars or more 
would lead many people to decide the medication isn’t worth the price, 
she said.In response to the unprecedented public health crisis caused by 
COVID, the federal government spent billions of dollars on developing 
new vaccines and treatments, to swift success: Less than a year after 
the pandemic was declared, medical workers got their first vaccines. But
 as many people have refused the shots and stopped wearing masks, the 
virus still rages and mutates. In 2022 alone, 250,000 Americans <a target="_blank" href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_totaldeaths_select_00">have died</a> from COVID, <a target="_blank" href="https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Monthly-Provisional-Counts-of-Deaths-by-Select-Cau/9dzk-mvmi/data">more than</a> from strokes or diabetes.But soon the Department of Health and Human Services will stop 
supplying COVID treatments, and pharmacies will purchase and bill for 
them the same way they do for antibiotic pills or asthma inhalers. 
Paxlovid is expected to hit the private market in mid-2023, according to
 HHS plans shared in an October meeting with state health officials and 
clinicians. Merck’s Lagevrio, a less-effective COVID treatment pill, and
 AstraZeneca’s Evusheld, a preventive therapy for the immunocompromised,
 are on track to be commercialized sooner, sometime in the winter.The U.S. government has so far purchased <a target="_blank" href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/04/26/fact-sheet-biden-administration-increases-access-to-covid-19-treatments-and-boosts-patient-and-provider-awareness/">20 million courses</a>
 of Paxlovid, priced at about $530 each, a discount for buying in bulk 
that Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla called “really very attractive” to the 
federal government in a July earnings call. The drug will cost far more 
on the private market, although in a statement to KHN, Pfizer declined 
to share the planned price. The government will also stop paying for the
 company’s COVID vaccine next year — those shots will <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/pfizer-covid-cash-marketing-drugs/">quadruple in price</a>, from the discount rate the government pays of $30 to about $120.Bourla told investors in November that he expects the move will make 
Paxlovid and its COVID vaccine “a multibillion-dollars franchise.”Nearly <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/11/28/covid-who-is-dying/">9 in 10 people</a> dying from the virus now are 65 or older. Yet federal law restricts Medicare Part D — the prescription drug program that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/medicare-beneficiaries-enrolled-in-part-d-coverage/?currentTimeframe=0&amp;sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D">covers nearly 50 million seniors</a>
 — from covering the COVID treatment pills. The medications are meant 
for those most at risk of serious illness, including seniors.Paxlovid and the other treatments are currently available under an 
emergency use authorization from the FDA, a fast-track review used in 
extraordinary situations. Although Pfizer <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-announces-submission-new-drug-application-us-fda">applied for full approval</a>
 in June, the process can take anywhere from several months to years. 
And Medicare Part D can’t cover any medications without that full stamp 
of approval.Paying out-of-pocket would be “a substantial barrier” for seniors on 
Medicare — the very people who would benefit most from the drug, wrote <a target="_blank" href="https://aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1072f5093254224ac902ca395387085c/coverage-considerations-covid-19.pdf">federal health experts</a>.“From a public health perspective, and even from a health care 
capacity and cost perspective, it would just defy reason to not continue
 to make these drugs readily available,” said Dr. Larry Madoff, medical 
director of Massachusetts’ Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory 
Sciences. He’s hopeful that the federal health agency will find a way to
 set aside unused doses for seniors and people without insurance.In mid-November, the White House requested that Congress approve an 
additional $2.5 billion for COVID therapeutics and vaccines to make sure
 people can afford the medications when they’re no longer free. But 
there’s little hope it will be approved — the Senate <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/senate-votes-to-end-covid-19-emergency-declaration-11668559887">voted that same day to end</a> the public health emergency and denied similar requests in recent months.Many Americans have already faced hurdles just <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/test-to-treat-biden-covid-failing-patients-pharmacies-cvs/">getting a prescription</a> for COVID treatment. Although the federal government <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/paxlovid-covid-pill-antiviral-access-data/">doesn’t track</a> who’s gotten the drug, a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7143a2.htm">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study</a>
 using data from 30 medical centers found that Black and Hispanic 
patients with COVID were much less likely to receive Paxlovid than white
 patients. (Hispanic people can be of any race or combination of races.)
 And when the government is no longer picking up the tab, experts 
predict that these gaps by race, income, and geography will widen.People in Northeastern states used the drug far more often than those
 in the rest of the country, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis 
of Paxlovid use in September and October. But it wasn’t because people 
in the region were getting sick from COVID at much higher rates — 
instead, many of those states offered better <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus/report.htm">access to health care</a> to begin with and created special programs to get Paxlovid to their residents.About 10 mostly Democratic states and several large counties in the 
Northeast and elsewhere created free “test-to-treat” programs that allow
 their residents to get an immediate doctor visit and prescription for 
treatment after testing positive for COVID. In Massachusetts, more than 
20,000 residents have used the state’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mass.gov/info-details/free-telehealth-for-covid-19-treatment-with-paxlovid">video and phone hotline</a>,
 which is available seven days a week in 13 languages. Massachusetts, 
which has the highest insurance rate in the country and relatively low 
travel times to pharmacies, had the second-highest Paxlovid usage rate 
among states this fall.States with higher COVID death rates, like Florida and Kentucky, 
where residents must travel farther for health care and are more likely 
to be uninsured, used the drug less often. Without no-cost test-to-treat
 options, <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/test-to-treat-biden-covid-failing-patients-pharmacies-cvs/">residents have struggled</a> to get prescriptions even though the drug itself is still free.“If you look at access to medications for people who are uninsured, I
 think that there’s no question that will widen those disparities,” 
Rosenthal said.People who get insurance through their jobs could face high copays at
 the register, too, just as they do for insulin and other expensive or 
brand-name drugs.Most private insurance companies will end up covering COVID 
therapeutics to some extent, said Sabrina Corlette, a research professor
 at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms. After 
all, the pills are cheaper than a hospital stay. But for most people who
 get insurance through their jobs, there are “really no rules at all,” 
she said. Some insurers could take months to add the drugs to their 
plans or decide not to pay for them.And the additional cost means many people will go without the medication.“We know from lots of research that when people face cost sharing for
 these drugs that they need to take, they will often forgo or cut back,”
 Corlette said.One group doesn’t need to worry about sticker shock. Medicaid, the 
public insurance program for low-income adults and children, will cover 
the treatments in full until at least early 2024.HHS officials could set aside any leftover taxpayer-funded medication
 for people who can’t afford to pay the full cost, but they haven’t 
shared any concrete plans to do so. The government purchased 20 million 
courses of Paxlovid and 3 million of Lagevrio. Fewer than a third have 
been used, and usage has fallen in recent months, according to KHN’s 
analysis of the data from HHS.Sixty percent of the government’s supply of Evusheld is also still available, although the COVID prevention therapy is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-releases-important-information-about-risk-covid-19-due-certain-variants-not-neutralized-evusheld">less effective</a> against new strains of the virus. The health department in one state, <a target="_blank" href="https://files.constantcontact.com/8088728e101/558b11b0-e00f-47d7-8ec1-645904ec1905.pdf">New Mexico</a>, has recommended against using it.HHS did not make officials available for an interview or answer written questions about the commercialization plans.The government created a potential workaround when they moved 
bebtelovimab, another COVID treatment, to the private market this 
summer. It now retails for $2,100 per patient. The agency set aside the 
remaining 60,000 government-purchased doses that hospitals could use to 
treat uninsured patients in a convoluted <a target="_blank" href="https://aspr.hhs.gov/COVID-19/Therapeutics/Products/Bebtelovimab/Pages/default.aspx">dose-replacement process</a>. But it’s hard to tell how well that setup would work for Paxlovid: Bebtelovimab was already much less popular, and the FDA <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-announces-bebtelovimab-not-currently-authorized-any-us-region">halted its use</a> on Nov. 30 because it’s less effective against current strains of the virus.Federal officials and insurance companies would have good reason to 
make sure patients can continue to afford covid drugs: They’re far 
cheaper than if patients land in the emergency room.“The medications are so worthwhile,” said Madoff, the Massachusetts 
health official. “They’re not expensive in the grand scheme of health 
care costs.”<a target="_blank" href="https://www.khn.org/about-us">KHN</a> 
(Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth 
journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and 
Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/about-us">KFF</a> (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

COVID treatment Paxlovid has been free; now comes the sticker shock

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment recorded 87 new COVID-19 cases for Riley County between June 25 and July 
1. The Incidence Rate is 117.2. Riley County remains in the HIGH 
incidence category with 100 or more cases per 100,000 people.

Ascension Via Christi Hospital in Manhattan is caring for three COVID-19 positive patients at this time.

No
 additional deaths have been reported. The total number of COVID-19 
related deaths for Riley County residents remains 89 people.

COVID-19
 tests are available at most pharmacies, urgent care centers, and 
doctors offices. Find a list of several local options for testing on the
 <a href="https://www.rileycountyks.gov/1869/Get-Tested">Get Tested page</a> of the Riley County COVID-19 website.

Free
 at-home test kits are also available in the lobby at the Riley County 
Health Department Clinic, located at 2030 Tecumseh Drive. The limit is 
two test kits per person, and each kit contains two tests. RCHD no 
longer offers in-person testing.&nbsp;

Pfizer
 and Moderna vaccines are now available for everyone older than six 
months of age. Children under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or 
legal guardian to receive vaccinations. The Health Department does not 
charge any fees for COVID-19 vaccines.

Walk-ins are welcome at the
 Health Department Clinic, located at 2030 Tecumseh Road. People can 
also schedule appointments by calling (785) 776-4779 ext. 7675.&nbsp;

There have been a total of 14,170 COVID-19 cases in Riley County as of July 6, 2022 according to the <a href="https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1529/June-29-Case-Summary-PDF?bidId=">KDHE Case Summary.</a> This total does not include any at-home test results.

Please report positive or negative results when you take an at-home test using the <a href="https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6703581/Reporting-At-Home-Positive-COVID-19-Test-Results">online portal.</a> The Report At-Home Test Results link is also available on the Riley County COVID-19 page at <a href="https://www.rileycountyks.gov/1857/Novel-Coronavirus-2019-nCoV">www.rileycountyks.gov/covid</a>.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1657130530725.png" alt="KDHE" />
 <figcaption>KDHE</figcaption>
 </figure>The Kansas Department of Health and Environment recorded 87 new COVID-19 cases for Riley County between June 25 and July 
1. The Incidence Rate is 117.2. Riley County remains in the HIGH 
incidence category with 100 or more cases per 100,000 people.Ascension Via Christi Hospital in Manhattan is caring for three COVID-19 positive patients at this time.No
 additional deaths have been reported. The total number of COVID-19 
related deaths for Riley County residents remains 89 people.<h2>COVID-19 Tests</h2>COVID-19
 tests are available at most pharmacies, urgent care centers, and 
doctors offices. Find a list of several local options for testing on the
 <a href="https://www.rileycountyks.gov/1869/Get-Tested">Get Tested page</a> of the Riley County COVID-19 website.Free
 at-home test kits are also available in the lobby at the Riley County 
Health Department Clinic, located at 2030 Tecumseh Drive. The limit is 
two test kits per person, and each kit contains two tests. RCHD no 
longer offers in-person testing.&nbsp;<h2>Vaccine Information</h2>Pfizer
 and Moderna vaccines are now available for everyone older than six 
months of age. Children under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or 
legal guardian to receive vaccinations. The Health Department does not 
charge any fees for COVID-19 vaccines.Walk-ins are welcome at the
 Health Department Clinic, located at 2030 Tecumseh Road. People can 
also schedule appointments by calling (785) 776-4779 ext. 7675.&nbsp;Riley County Health Clinic Hours:<ul>
 <li>Mon-Wed: 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.</li><li>Thurs: noon – 6 p.m.</li><li>Fri: 8:30 - 11 a.m.</li>
 </ul><h2>Additional Information</h2>There have been a total of 14,170 COVID-19 cases in Riley County as of July 6, 2022 according to the <a href="https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1529/June-29-Case-Summary-PDF?bidId=">KDHE Case Summary.</a> This total does not include any at-home test results.Please report positive or negative results when you take an at-home test using the <a href="https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6703581/Reporting-At-Home-Positive-COVID-19-Test-Results">online portal.</a> The Report At-Home Test Results link is also available on the Riley County COVID-19 page at <a href="https://www.rileycountyks.gov/1857/Novel-Coronavirus-2019-nCoV">www.rileycountyks.gov/covid</a>.&nbsp;

KDHE: 87 new COVID cases in Riley Co. in past week

TOPEKA&nbsp;– Governor Laura Kelly and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) on Thursday announced their continued efforts to shift to the next chapter of the COVID-19 response, pivoting from emergency pandemic response to endemic normalcy. 

On April 1, KDHE will make changes to continue the transition from emergency response to our ‘new normal,’ which includes life with COVID-19—similar to how we deal with other recurring diseases like the flu. Using the lessons learned over the past two years, KDHE will continue to ensure the State is prepared for potential surges or other needs that might arise in the future.

"Kansas is continuing the transition to a new phase of understanding and living with COVID-19,”&nbsp;Governor Laura Kelly said.&nbsp;“We know the pandemic is not over, however we now have the tools and knowledge obtained over the past two years to prevent or reduce the spread of the virus. We are normalizing our COVID-19 response and incorporating these lessons into our larger efforts at improving health outcomes for all Kansans, which includes work on multiple diseases and an awareness of differing risk factors.”

This decision comes as current COVID-19 metrics are moving in the right direction. Over the last two years, KDHE has made significant progress in keeping Kansas communities safe with the help of partners throughout the State: over 7 million tests have been given, over 4 million vaccines have been administered, and over 78% of eligible Kansans have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine.

“In our new normal, we will continue to ensure that Kansans have equitable access to life-saving vaccines, tests, and treatments. This shift does not mean that COVID is over, but rather we are working to manage the disease in a way that allows us to maintain a more normal life that is once again filled with friends, families and other loved ones,”&nbsp;said KDHE Secretary Janet Stanek.

Working with Local Health Departments (LHDs) and stakeholders, KDHE’s endemic plan addresses six key areas that are designed to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all Kansans:

Across each of the above areas, KDHE will remain prepared to ramp up capacity to quickly respond to a surge and keep Kansans safe should the need arise.

TOPEKA&nbsp;– Governor Laura Kelly and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) on Thursday announced their continued efforts to shift to the next chapter of the COVID-19 response, pivoting from emergency pandemic response to endemic normalcy. On April 1, KDHE will make changes to continue the transition from emergency response to our ‘new normal,’ which includes life with COVID-19—similar to how we deal with other recurring diseases like the flu. Using the lessons learned over the past two years, KDHE will continue to ensure the State is prepared for potential surges or other needs that might arise in the future."Kansas is continuing the transition to a new phase of understanding and living with COVID-19,”&nbsp;Governor Laura Kelly said.&nbsp;“We know the pandemic is not over, however we now have the tools and knowledge obtained over the past two years to prevent or reduce the spread of the virus. We are normalizing our COVID-19 response and incorporating these lessons into our larger efforts at improving health outcomes for all Kansans, which includes work on multiple diseases and an awareness of differing risk factors.”This decision comes as current COVID-19 metrics are moving in the right direction. Over the last two years, KDHE has made significant progress in keeping Kansas communities safe with the help of partners throughout the State: over 7 million tests have been given, over 4 million vaccines have been administered, and over 78% of eligible Kansans have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine.“In our new normal, we will continue to ensure that Kansans have equitable access to life-saving vaccines, tests, and treatments. This shift does not mean that COVID is over, but rather we are working to manage the disease in a way that allows us to maintain a more normal life that is once again filled with friends, families and other loved ones,”&nbsp;said KDHE Secretary Janet Stanek.Working with Local Health Departments (LHDs) and stakeholders, KDHE’s endemic plan addresses six key areas that are designed to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all Kansans:<ul>
 <li>Intervention:&nbsp;KDHE will continue to provide comprehensive guidance, while continuing to offer additional assistance to underserved and/or vulnerable populations.</li><li>Vaccination:&nbsp;KDHE will focus on making sure vulnerable populations have access to the COVID-19 vaccine while existing vaccine providers, including health care providers, pharmacists, hospitals, and LHDs, will continue to serve the broader population.</li><li>Treatment:&nbsp;KDHE will continue to ensure Kansans will be able to receive COVID-19 treatment across the State, as treatment distribution shifts away from public health entities and back to local health care providers.</li><li>Testing:&nbsp;KDHE will continue to support access to free testing across the state through community testing sites, LHDs, and K-12 schools as long as federal funding is available. In addition, the federal government provides direct testing support to Federally Qualified Health Centers and pharmacies around the state. To find a free testing location near you, go to&nbsp;<a href="https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDEsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsImJ1bGxldGluX2lkIjoiMjAyMjAzMzEuNTU3NDY5ODEiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy5jb3JvbmF2aXJ1cy5rZGhla3MuZ292LzI4MC9DT1ZJRC0xOS1UZXN0aW5nIn0.GfHL9b4jMqHPXXa-raViSl3-9DLuVjAXv4mI1BPx2bo/s/1303160919/br/128948992477-l" target="_blank">knowbeforeyougoKS.com</a>. KDHE testing support for Long Term Care Facilities will be phased out&nbsp;on May 15, 2022,&nbsp;and testing support for employers&nbsp;ends on June 30, 2022.&nbsp;</li><li>Monitoring:&nbsp;KDHE will continue to monitor data as reported by organizations and facilities across the state to understand the status of COVID-19 and proactively identify at-risk groups. Public reporting will be reduced to once a week.</li><li>Communications:&nbsp;KDHE will continue to provide essential and accessible COVID information to keep Kansans safe and aware of any subsequent changes to COVID-19 response efforts.</li>
 </ul>Across each of the above areas, KDHE will remain prepared to ramp up capacity to quickly respond to a surge and keep Kansans safe should the need arise.

Gov.: Pandemic not over; Kan. moves to endemic phase of COVID response

&nbsp; (RILEY COUNTY, KS – March 30, 2022) Riley County identified 8 new COVID-19 cases and 17 additional recoveries from March 13 - 19. There are currently eight active COVID-19 cases in the county.&nbsp; There are not any COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized at Ascension Via Christi Hospital in Manhattan. According to information released by the County the percent positive information is no longer be available since the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has updated their reporting procedures for COVID-19 testing. Labs will no longer be required to report negative test results, only positive results which is the same process used for all other infectious diseases in the United States. Individuals are still entitled to receive the results of their COVID-19 testing, whether they are positive or negative, but only the numbers of positive results will be shared with local and state health departments and the CDC to be included in reporting statistics. Starting this week, the Riley County Health Department reports will include active cases, current hospitalizations, recoveries, total positive cases, deaths, and incidents per 100,000 people. The current population of Riley County is about 72,000 people, so the rate per 100,000 will be higher than the reported case numbers.&nbsp;&nbsp;

&nbsp; (RILEY COUNTY, KS – March 30, 2022) Riley County identified 8 new COVID-19 cases and 17 additional recoveries from March 13 - 19. There are currently eight active COVID-19 cases in the county.&nbsp; There are not any COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized at Ascension Via Christi Hospital in Manhattan. According to information released by the County the percent positive information is no longer be available since the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has updated their reporting procedures for COVID-19 testing. Labs will no longer be required to report negative test results, only positive results which is the same process used for all other infectious diseases in the United States. Individuals are still entitled to receive the results of their COVID-19 testing, whether they are positive or negative, but only the numbers of positive results will be shared with local and state health departments and the CDC to be included in reporting statistics. Starting this week, the Riley County Health Department reports will include active cases, current hospitalizations, recoveries, total positive cases, deaths, and incidents per 100,000 people. The current population of Riley County is about 72,000 people, so the rate per 100,000 will be higher than the reported case numbers.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Riley County identifies Eight New COVID-19 Cases 

With coronavirus cases rising in parts of Europe and Asia, scientists worry that an extra-contagious version of the omicron variant may soon push cases up in the United States too.

Experts are also keeping their eyes on another mutant: a rare delta-omicron hybrid that they say doesn’t pose much of a threat right now but shows how wily the coronavirus can be.

The U.S. will likely see an uptick in cases caused by the omicron descendant BA.2 starting in the next few weeks, according to Dr. Eric Topol, head of Scripps Research Translational Institute.

“It’s inevitable we will see a BA.2 wave here,” he said.

One reason? After about two months of falling COVID-19 cases, pandemic restrictions have been lifted across the U.S. Many people are taking off their masks and returning to indoor spaces like restaurants and theaters.

And the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows&nbsp;<a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions" target="_blank">the share caused by BA.2 is up significantly.</a>&nbsp;The CDC reported Tuesday that the variant accounted for about 35% of new infections last week. In the Northeast, it was about half.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, told ABC’s “This Week” over the weekend that he also thinks the U.S. will likely face an “uptick” similar to what’s happening in Europe, particularly the United Kingdom, where BA.2 is the dominant strain. He said he doesn’t think it will be a “surge.”

The U.K. has “had the same situation as we’ve had now,” Fauci said. “They have BA.2. They have a relaxation of some restrictions such as indoor masking and there’s a waning of immunity” from vaccines and past infections.

Keri Althoff, a researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, cautioned that CDC case counts underestimate the true numbers because some people are no longer getting tested and others are testing at home and not reporting the results. Also, she said, not every specimen is genetically sequenced to determine the variant.

It’s clear, she said, “BA.2 is coming onto the scene.”

One reason the variant has gained ground, scientists say,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-science-health-world-health-organization-public-health-7e4cd2f5f6cd2ec87393b3cc9ce41c9c">is that it’s about 30% more contagious than the original omicron</a>. In rare cases, research shows it can sicken people even if they’ve already had an omicron infection — although it doesn’t seem to cause more severe disease.

Vaccines appear just as effective against both types of omicron, but breakthrough infections are possible. And experts point out that vaccination rates are lower in the U.S. than the U.K. About 74% of those 12 and older are fully vaccinated in the U.S, compared with 86% in the U.K.

”We need to emphasize that we’re not protected in this country compared to peer countries,” Topol said.

Still, not all experts are equally concerned about a BA.2-related rise in U.S. cases. Dr. James Musser, head of genomic medicine and infectious diseases at Houston Methodist, said the variant has so far only caused about 1% to 3% of cases in his medical system. Cases there have usually tracked closely with what’s happening in the U.K.

He called BA.2 “something we’re keeping an eye on,” but said, “I’m not losing sleep” over it.

That’s how many scientists view the other variant that some in the public are calling “deltacron,” a hybrid containing genetic information from both delta and omicron.

Earlier this month, Maria Van Kerkhove of the World Health Organization said the hybrid has been detected at “very low levels” in France, the Netherlands and Denmark. And two recent studies, which have not yet been peer-reviewed, point to a tiny number of cases in the U.S.

Much remains unknown about the hybrid. There’s no evidence it causes more severe disease, and it doesn’t look like it’s infecting many people. CDC researchers identified 9 samples, seven from the mid-Atlantic region in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.19.484981v1.full.pdf+html" target="_blank">study released Monday</a>&nbsp;that hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed. Topol, who was not involved in the research, said there’s no evidence it has the potential to spread.

It’s common for coronaviruses to shuffle gene segments, said Dr. Stuart Campbell Ray, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University. With two variants circulating at the same time, people may get double infections, and a “progeny virus” could emerge.

Given the virus’&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-science-health-pandemics-dc99bc9f769dd6d7cb669e3d185c6261">ability to spawn new mutants</a>&nbsp;— and the rise of BA.2 — experts say people should get vaccinated if they’re not and keep their masks handy.

“Keep your guard up,” Topol said. “This is not over.”

By LAURA UNGAR, Associated PressWith coronavirus cases rising in parts of Europe and Asia, scientists worry that an extra-contagious version of the omicron variant may soon push cases up in the United States too.Experts are also keeping their eyes on another mutant: a rare delta-omicron hybrid that they say doesn’t pose much of a threat right now but shows how wily the coronavirus can be.The U.S. will likely see an uptick in cases caused by the omicron descendant BA.2 starting in the next few weeks, according to Dr. Eric Topol, head of Scripps Research Translational Institute.“It’s inevitable we will see a BA.2 wave here,” he said.One reason? After about two months of falling COVID-19 cases, pandemic restrictions have been lifted across the U.S. Many people are taking off their masks and returning to indoor spaces like restaurants and theaters.And the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows&nbsp;<a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions" target="_blank">the share caused by BA.2 is up significantly.</a>&nbsp;The CDC reported Tuesday that the variant accounted for about 35% of new infections last week. In the Northeast, it was about half.Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, told ABC’s “This Week” over the weekend that he also thinks the U.S. will likely face an “uptick” similar to what’s happening in Europe, particularly the United Kingdom, where BA.2 is the dominant strain. He said he doesn’t think it will be a “surge.”The U.K. has “had the same situation as we’ve had now,” Fauci said. “They have BA.2. They have a relaxation of some restrictions such as indoor masking and there’s a waning of immunity” from vaccines and past infections.Keri Althoff, a researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, cautioned that CDC case counts underestimate the true numbers because some people are no longer getting tested and others are testing at home and not reporting the results. Also, she said, not every specimen is genetically sequenced to determine the variant.It’s clear, she said, “BA.2 is coming onto the scene.”One reason the variant has gained ground, scientists say,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-science-health-world-health-organization-public-health-7e4cd2f5f6cd2ec87393b3cc9ce41c9c">is that it’s about 30% more contagious than the original omicron</a>. In rare cases, research shows it can sicken people even if they’ve already had an omicron infection — although it doesn’t seem to cause more severe disease.Vaccines appear just as effective against both types of omicron, but breakthrough infections are possible. And experts point out that vaccination rates are lower in the U.S. than the U.K. About 74% of those 12 and older are fully vaccinated in the U.S, compared with 86% in the U.K.”We need to emphasize that we’re not protected in this country compared to peer countries,” Topol said.Still, not all experts are equally concerned about a BA.2-related rise in U.S. cases. Dr. James Musser, head of genomic medicine and infectious diseases at Houston Methodist, said the variant has so far only caused about 1% to 3% of cases in his medical system. Cases there have usually tracked closely with what’s happening in the U.K.He called BA.2 “something we’re keeping an eye on,” but said, “I’m not losing sleep” over it.That’s how many scientists view the other variant that some in the public are calling “deltacron,” a hybrid containing genetic information from both delta and omicron.Earlier this month, Maria Van Kerkhove of the World Health Organization said the hybrid has been detected at “very low levels” in France, the Netherlands and Denmark. And two recent studies, which have not yet been peer-reviewed, point to a tiny number of cases in the U.S.Much remains unknown about the hybrid. There’s no evidence it causes more severe disease, and it doesn’t look like it’s infecting many people. CDC researchers identified 9 samples, seven from the mid-Atlantic region in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.19.484981v1.full.pdf+html" target="_blank">study released Monday</a>&nbsp;that hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed. Topol, who was not involved in the research, said there’s no evidence it has the potential to spread.It’s common for coronaviruses to shuffle gene segments, said Dr. Stuart Campbell Ray, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University. With two variants circulating at the same time, people may get double infections, and a “progeny virus” could emerge.Given the virus’&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-science-health-pandemics-dc99bc9f769dd6d7cb669e3d185c6261">ability to spawn new mutants</a>&nbsp;— and the rise of BA.2 — experts say people should get vaccinated if they’re not and keep their masks handy.“Keep your guard up,” Topol said. “This is not over.”___

Scientists worry virus variant may push up COVID cases in US

TOPEKA — The number of confirmed coronavirus cases* (see below) in Kansas increased by 513 to a total of 767,482, the state health department reported Friday afternoon.&nbsp; &nbsp;

The state reported 8 additional COVID-19 deaths for a total of 7983.

<a href="https://www.kansasvaccine.gov/158/Data">Click here for Data</a> about the COVID-19 vaccine.

<a href="https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/160/COVID-19-in-Kansas">Click here&nbsp;</a>for additional virus numbers from the KDHE.

As of August 1, 2021, in accordance with an&nbsp;<a href="https://ndc.services.cdc.gov/conditions/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/" target="_blank">updated CDC/CSTE surveillance case definition</a>, a confirmed case is defined as a person who tested positive by molecular detection (e.g., PCR, NAA) or identification of SARS-CoV-2 through genetic sequencing. A probable case is defined as a person with: a) presumptive lab evidence (antigen) or b) no lab testing but meeting clinical case criteria and is epi-linked. A person will be counted as a new surveillance case (e.g. reinfection) if they test positive for SARS-CoV-2 by a diagnostic test (i.e., molecular, antigen) and it has been greater than 90 days since the previous positive diagnostic test. In addition, a person with sequencing results identifying different SARS-CoV-2 lineages regardless of the time since the previous specimen sequenced will be counted as a new surveillance case.&nbsp;

Cases occurring between&nbsp;September 1, 2020&nbsp;and July 29, 2021 were classified by&nbsp;<a href="https://ndc.services.cdc.gov/conditions/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/" target="_blank">previous CDC/CSTE case definition,&nbsp;</a>and cases prior to September 1, 2020 were classified by the&nbsp;<a href="https://ndc.services.cdc.gov/case-definitions/coronavirus-disease-2019-2020/" target="_blank">original case definition</a>.

TOPEKA — The number of confirmed coronavirus cases* (see below) in Kansas increased by 513 to a total of 767,482, the state health department reported Friday afternoon.&nbsp; &nbsp;The state reported 8 additional COVID-19 deaths for a total of 7983.<a href="https://www.kansasvaccine.gov/158/Data">Click here for Data</a> about the COVID-19 vaccine.<a href="https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/160/COVID-19-in-Kansas">Click here&nbsp;</a>for additional virus numbers from the KDHE.As of August 1, 2021, in accordance with an&nbsp;<a href="https://ndc.services.cdc.gov/conditions/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/" target="_blank">updated CDC/CSTE surveillance case definition</a>, a confirmed case is defined as a person who tested positive by molecular detection (e.g., PCR, NAA) or identification of SARS-CoV-2 through genetic sequencing. A probable case is defined as a person with: a) presumptive lab evidence (antigen) or b) no lab testing but meeting clinical case criteria and is epi-linked. A person will be counted as a new surveillance case (e.g. reinfection) if they test positive for SARS-CoV-2 by a diagnostic test (i.e., molecular, antigen) and it has been greater than 90 days since the previous positive diagnostic test. In addition, a person with sequencing results identifying different SARS-CoV-2 lineages regardless of the time since the previous specimen sequenced will be counted as a new surveillance case.&nbsp;Cases occurring between&nbsp;September 1, 2020&nbsp;and July 29, 2021 were classified by&nbsp;<a href="https://ndc.services.cdc.gov/conditions/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/" target="_blank">previous CDC/CSTE case definition,&nbsp;</a>and cases prior to September 1, 2020 were classified by the&nbsp;<a href="https://ndc.services.cdc.gov/case-definitions/coronavirus-disease-2019-2020/" target="_blank">original case definition</a>.

KDHE: Latest COVID-19 numbers in Kansas

Riley&nbsp;County&nbsp;has identified 188 new positive COVID-19 cases and 386 additional recoveries since the last report on February 16. A total of 132 of those cases were reported in the last 2 weeks, the remainder represent delayed reporting from previous weeks. There are currently 46 active COVID-19 cases in&nbsp;Riley&nbsp;County.&nbsp; Five additional deaths have been reported for COVID-positive patients who passed in December, January, and February. Four of the deceased patients were unvaccinated. Most recently, a 60 year-old vaccinated male passed away February 24 after testing positive January 20. His passing represents the 79th COVID-related death in the&nbsp;county.&nbsp; At the height of the omicron surge in January, hundreds of new positive patients were being identified each day and Ascension Via Christi Hospital was caring for 23 COVID-positive patients. The hospitalization rate has dropped by 83% since early January and Via Christi is currently caring for 4 COVID-positive patients.&nbsp;

Riley&nbsp;County&nbsp;has identified 188 new positive COVID-19 cases and 386 additional recoveries since the last report on February 16. A total of 132 of those cases were reported in the last 2 weeks, the remainder represent delayed reporting from previous weeks. There are currently 46 active COVID-19 cases in&nbsp;Riley&nbsp;County.&nbsp; Five additional deaths have been reported for COVID-positive patients who passed in December, January, and February. Four of the deceased patients were unvaccinated. Most recently, a 60 year-old vaccinated male passed away February 24 after testing positive January 20. His passing represents the 79th COVID-related death in the&nbsp;county.&nbsp; At the height of the omicron surge in January, hundreds of new positive patients were being identified each day and Ascension Via Christi Hospital was caring for 23 COVID-positive patients. The hospitalization rate has dropped by 83% since early January and Via Christi is currently caring for 4 COVID-positive patients.&nbsp;

Riley County updates COVID numbers

Fort Riley officials have announced via social media that Irwin Army Community Hospital is closing its COVID-19 drive-thru testing site effective Feb. 25. The last available date for drive-thru testing is Thursday, Feb. 24. 

COVID-19 testing will remain available at IACH through medical appointment by calling (785) 239-3627. 

Free COVID-19 self-test kits are available at Fort Riley Public Health Department, 7665 Normandy Dr., Fort Riley, Kansas, 66442, during business hours Monday and Wednesday-Friday, 7:30 a.m. – 4 p.m., Tuesday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. 

Testing is available also at locations throughout the local community including pharmacies and county health departments. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment lists the following locations as community testing sites for COVID-19: 

• Kollhoff Pharmacy, 407 S Washington St, Junction City, KS 66441

• Geary County Health Department, 212 W Ash St, Junction City, KS 66441

• Riley County Health Department, 2030 Tecumseh Rd, Manhattan, KS 66502

• Hy-Vee Pharmacy, 325 Bluemont Ave, Manhattan, KS 66502

• Walgreens Pharmacy, 325 Bluemont Ave, Manhattan, KS 66502

Fort Riley officials have announced via social media that Irwin Army Community Hospital is closing its COVID-19 drive-thru testing site effective Feb. 25. The last available date for drive-thru testing is Thursday, Feb. 24. COVID-19 testing will remain available at IACH through medical appointment by calling (785) 239-3627. Free COVID-19 self-test kits are available at Fort Riley Public Health Department, 7665 Normandy Dr., Fort Riley, Kansas, 66442, during business hours Monday and Wednesday-Friday, 7:30 a.m. – 4 p.m., Tuesday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Testing is available also at locations throughout the local community including pharmacies and county health departments. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment lists the following locations as community testing sites for COVID-19: • Kollhoff Pharmacy, 407 S Washington St, Junction City, KS 66441• Geary County Health Department, 212 W Ash St, Junction City, KS 66441• Riley County Health Department, 2030 Tecumseh Rd, Manhattan, KS 66502• Hy-Vee Pharmacy, 325 Bluemont Ave, Manhattan, KS 66502• Walgreens Pharmacy, 325 Bluemont Ave, Manhattan, KS 66502

Drive-through testing site on Post will close this week

(RILEY COUNTY, KS – February 16, 2022) A 59 year-old, unvaccinated female Riley County resident passed away January 11 after testing positive January 5. Her passing represents the 74th COVID-related death in the county.&nbsp; Riley County has identified 230 new positive COVID-19 cases and 374 additional recoveries since the last report on February 9. There are currently 249 active cases, which represents a decrease of 145 active cases since last week. The two-week rolling percent positivity rate fell to 16.64% for the current period. The previous period had a positivity rate of 22.34%. Ascension Via Christi Hospital in Manhattan is caring for eight positive patients at this time. None of the hospitalized patients are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).&nbsp; “We’re happy to see the drop in positive cases,” said Local Health Officer Julie Gibbs. “Demand for testing has also gone down.. The health department is receiving as few as 10 testing requests per day now, and we’re grateful that the shift is allowing us to dedicate more resources back to regular healthcare services such as maternal and early childhood health, family planning, and immunizations. We’re hopefully heading toward a better situation.” Free COVID-19 testing will be available every weekday from 7am to 6pm through the end of March at the KDHE indoor facility located at 3019 Anderson Avenue. No appointment is necessary and the turnaround time for test results is currently 24 to 48 hours. “We do not anticipate any case spikes in the coming weeks, but we can’t predict any further into the future than that,” said Gibbs. “We’re still encouraging people to get vaccinated to protect themselves and their families against severe disease.” The Riley County Health Department continues to recommend wearing masks in crowded areas, washing hands frequently, and following health guidelines.

Riley County COVID-19 Statistics for February 16, 2022

Total positive cases in Riley County residents: 13,212 Total active: 249 Total recovered: 12,889 Total deaths: 74

By Vivienne Uccello(RILEY COUNTY, KS – February 16, 2022) A 59 year-old, unvaccinated female Riley County resident passed away January 11 after testing positive January 5. Her passing represents the 74th COVID-related death in the county.&nbsp; Riley County has identified 230 new positive COVID-19 cases and 374 additional recoveries since the last report on February 9. There are currently 249 active cases, which represents a decrease of 145 active cases since last week. The two-week rolling percent positivity rate fell to 16.64% for the current period. The previous period had a positivity rate of 22.34%. Ascension Via Christi Hospital in Manhattan is caring for eight positive patients at this time. None of the hospitalized patients are in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).&nbsp; “We’re happy to see the drop in positive cases,” said Local Health Officer Julie Gibbs. “Demand for testing has also gone down.. The health department is receiving as few as 10 testing requests per day now, and we’re grateful that the shift is allowing us to dedicate more resources back to regular healthcare services such as maternal and early childhood health, family planning, and immunizations. We’re hopefully heading toward a better situation.” Free COVID-19 testing will be available every weekday from 7am to 6pm through the end of March at the KDHE indoor facility located at 3019 Anderson Avenue. No appointment is necessary and the turnaround time for test results is currently 24 to 48 hours. “We do not anticipate any case spikes in the coming weeks, but we can’t predict any further into the future than that,” said Gibbs. “We’re still encouraging people to get vaccinated to protect themselves and their families against severe disease.” The Riley County Health Department continues to recommend wearing masks in crowded areas, washing hands frequently, and following health guidelines.<h2>Riley County COVID-19 Statistics for February 16, 2022</h2>Total positive cases in Riley County residents: 13,212 Total active: 249 Total recovered: 12,889 Total deaths: 74

Riley County Identifies 230 New COVID-19 Cases and 1 Additional Death

RILEY COUNTY — Riley County has identified 607 new COVID cases and 948 additional recoveries since the last report on January 26. There are currently 638 active cases in Riley County, which represents a decrease of 341 active cases since last week. The two-week rolling percent positivity rate fell from 24.06% to 17.84% for the current period. Ascension Via Christi Hospital is caring for 11 COVID-positive patients at this time. Three of the hospitalized patients are on ventilators with a total of four patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Vaccine data for hospitalized patients was not available at the time of this release.&nbsp; “Thankfully, the local case numbers are starting to drop,” said Local Health Officer Julie Gibbs. “We’re hopeful that the peak of the omicron surge in Riley County is behind us.” The new, indoor KDHE testing site opened Thursday at 3019&nbsp;Anderson Avenue in the Plaza West Shopping Center. This is NOT a drive-up clinic and patients will need to park and come inside for testing. Masks are required to enter the building. RCHD will continue to provide COVID and flu vaccines by appointment. Please call (785) 565-6560 to schedule a vaccine. Health department nurses are also available to offer COVID and flu vaccine clinics on-site in collaboration with businesses, organization managers, or owners. To schedule an on-site clinic for your organization, please contact Sheyenne at (785) 776-4779 ext. 7691.

RILEY COUNTY — Riley County has identified 607 new COVID cases and 948 additional recoveries since the last report on January 26. There are currently 638 active cases in Riley County, which represents a decrease of 341 active cases since last week. The two-week rolling percent positivity rate fell from 24.06% to 17.84% for the current period. Ascension Via Christi Hospital is caring for 11 COVID-positive patients at this time. Three of the hospitalized patients are on ventilators with a total of four patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Vaccine data for hospitalized patients was not available at the time of this release.&nbsp; “Thankfully, the local case numbers are starting to drop,” said Local Health Officer Julie Gibbs. “We’re hopeful that the peak of the omicron surge in Riley County is behind us.” The new, indoor KDHE testing site opened Thursday at 3019&nbsp;Anderson Avenue in the Plaza West Shopping Center. This is NOT a drive-up clinic and patients will need to park and come inside for testing. Masks are required to enter the building. RCHD will continue to provide COVID and flu vaccines by appointment. Please call (785) 565-6560 to schedule a vaccine. Health department nurses are also available to offer COVID and flu vaccine clinics on-site in collaboration with businesses, organization managers, or owners. To schedule an on-site clinic for your organization, please contact Sheyenne at (785) 776-4779 ext. 7691.

New positive COVID cases totaled 607 last week

Starting February 2, the drive-up testing clinic at the Manhattan Town Center will close and operations will move indoors to 3015 Anderson Avenue in Plaza West near LEAP Trampoline Park and Max Body Fitness. If the weather is too severe and travel is unsafe, the site may delay opening until February 3 or 4. Updates will be posted on RCHD social media sites and the Riley County COVID-19 website at&nbsp;<a href="https://gmail.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=95221c46aac4689e49a7c0bfc&amp;id=74e905bc51&amp;e=fd06d17886" target="_blank">www.rileycountyks.gov/covid</a>. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) operates the testing site in cooperation with the Riley County Health Department (RCHD) “Moving indoors will allow the test site to stay open during most winter weather,” said Local Health Officer Julie Gibbs. “We’re grateful we were able to find a suitable location.”&nbsp; Hours for the testing site are also changing. Free PCR testing will be available at the KDHE site Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. No appointment is necessary. Please park and follow the signs and instructions posted at the entrance to the building. Masks are required. Please note, PCR results are still taking several days for labs to process due to the high demand for testing at this time.&nbsp; Free rapid COVID tests are available by appointment at the health department for symptomatic patients only. Call RCHD at (785) 323-6400 from 8:00 to noon Monday through Friday to schedule an appointment for a rapid test.&nbsp; As a reminder, every home in the US can also request a maximum of four at-home tests. Orders are expected to ship within 7-12 days. Order tests online at&nbsp;<a href="https://gmail.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=95221c46aac4689e49a7c0bfc&amp;id=9d03c893f3&amp;e=fd06d17886" target="_blank">www.covidtests.gov</a>&nbsp;or by calling 1-800-232-0233. Riley County residents are asked to report the results of their at-home tests at&nbsp;<a href="https://gmail.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=95221c46aac4689e49a7c0bfc&amp;id=176a5ed604&amp;e=fd06d17886" target="_blank">www.rileycountyks.gov/ReportResults</a>. Contact Riley County Health Department

Starting February 2, the drive-up testing clinic at the Manhattan Town Center will close and operations will move indoors to 3015 Anderson Avenue in Plaza West near LEAP Trampoline Park and Max Body Fitness. If the weather is too severe and travel is unsafe, the site may delay opening until February 3 or 4. Updates will be posted on RCHD social media sites and the Riley County COVID-19 website at&nbsp;<a href="https://gmail.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=95221c46aac4689e49a7c0bfc&amp;id=74e905bc51&amp;e=fd06d17886" target="_blank">www.rileycountyks.gov/covid</a>. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) operates the testing site in cooperation with the Riley County Health Department (RCHD) “Moving indoors will allow the test site to stay open during most winter weather,” said Local Health Officer Julie Gibbs. “We’re grateful we were able to find a suitable location.”&nbsp; Hours for the testing site are also changing. Free PCR testing will be available at the KDHE site Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. No appointment is necessary. Please park and follow the signs and instructions posted at the entrance to the building. Masks are required. Please note, PCR results are still taking several days for labs to process due to the high demand for testing at this time.&nbsp; Free rapid COVID tests are available by appointment at the health department for symptomatic patients only. Call RCHD at (785) 323-6400 from 8:00 to noon Monday through Friday to schedule an appointment for a rapid test.&nbsp; As a reminder, every home in the US can also request a maximum of four at-home tests. Orders are expected to ship within 7-12 days. Order tests online at&nbsp;<a href="https://gmail.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=95221c46aac4689e49a7c0bfc&amp;id=9d03c893f3&amp;e=fd06d17886" target="_blank">www.covidtests.gov</a>&nbsp;or by calling 1-800-232-0233. Riley County residents are asked to report the results of their at-home tests at&nbsp;<a href="https://gmail.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=95221c46aac4689e49a7c0bfc&amp;id=176a5ed604&amp;e=fd06d17886" target="_blank">www.rileycountyks.gov/ReportResults</a>. Contact Riley County Health Department<ul>
 <li>COVID-19 Testing (785) 323-6400</li><li>COVID-19 Vaccines (785) 565-6560</li>
 </ul>

KDHE Opens New, Indoor Location for COVID-19 Tests

WASHINGTON (AP) —The fast-moving omicron variant may cause less severe disease on average, but COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. are climbing and modelers forecast 50,000 to 300,000 more Americans could die by the time the wave subsides in mid-March.

The seven-day rolling average for daily new COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. has been trending upward since mid-November, reaching nearly 1,700 on Jan. 17 — still below the peak of 3,300 in January 2021. COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-pandemics-nursing-homes-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention-31685a926b0ee4e97e1b314a52b1f41c">started rising slightly two weeks ago</a>, although still at a rate 10 times less than last year before most residents were vaccinated.

Despite signs omicron causes milder disease on average, the unprecedented level of infection spreading through the country, with cases still soaring in many states, means many vulnerable people will become severely sick. If the higher end of projections comes to pass, that would push total U.S. deaths from COVID-19 over 1 million by early spring.

“A lot of people are still going to die because of how transmissible omicron has been,” said University of South Florida epidemiologist Jason Salemi. “It unfortunately is going to get worse before it gets better.”

Morgues are starting to run out of space in Johnson County, Kansas, said Dr. Sanmi Areola, director of the health department. More than 30 residents have died in the county this year, the vast majority of them unvaccinated.

But the notion that a generally less severe variant could still take the lives of thousands of people has been difficult for health experts to convey. The math of it — that a small percentage of a very high number of infections can yield a very high number of deaths — is difficult to visualize.

“Overall, you’re going to see more sick people even if you as an individual have a lower chance of being sick,” said Katriona Shea of Pennsylvania State University, who co-leads a team that pulls together&nbsp;<a href="https://covid19scenariomodelinghub.org/" target="_blank">several pandemic models</a>&nbsp;and shares the combined projections with the White House.

The wave of deaths heading for the United States will crest in late January or early February, Shea said. In early February, weekly deaths could equal or exceed the delta peak, and possibly even surpass the previous U.S. peak in deaths last year.

Some unknown portion of these deaths are among people infected with the delta variant, but experts say omicron is also claiming lives.

“This is omicron driven,” Shea said of the coming wave of deaths. The combined models project 1.5 million Americans will be hospitalized and 191,000 will die from mid-December through mid-March. Taking into account the uncertainty in the models, U.S. deaths during the omicron wave could range from 58,000 to 305,000.

Yet, it’s become increasingly clear that the risk from omicron is lower than from previous variants. New evidence from nearly 70,000 patients in Southern California suggests omicron is causing milder illness than delta.

A study, posted online and cited during a recent White House briefing, found patients with omicron had a 53% lower risk of hospitalization with respiratory symptoms, a 74% lower risk of ICU admission, and a 91% lower risk of death. The study, which has not yet been peer reviewed, comes from researchers at Kaiser Permanente and University of California, Berkeley.

“It’s hard for me to say straight out it’s good news,” said study co-author Sara Y. Tartof, a Kaiser Permanente research scientist. “Maybe there’s good news in the sense that if you are infected your chance of becoming severely ill are decreased, but from a societal perspective it’s a very heavy burden for us. It remains a serious situation, and we need to maintain practices and behaviors we know protect us.”

Overburdened hospitals could also contribute to more deaths, said Marc Lipsitch of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and scientific director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s forecasting center.

“In places with extremely short staffing and overloads of patients, as the medical professionals have been telling us, the quality of care begins to suffer,” Lipsitch said. “That may also lead to higher death rates, but that’s not in any of the models that I’m aware of.”

WASHINGTON (AP) —The fast-moving omicron variant may cause less severe disease on average, but COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. are climbing and modelers forecast 50,000 to 300,000 more Americans could die by the time the wave subsides in mid-March.The seven-day rolling average for daily new COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. has been trending upward since mid-November, reaching nearly 1,700 on Jan. 17 — still below the peak of 3,300 in January 2021. COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-pandemics-nursing-homes-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention-31685a926b0ee4e97e1b314a52b1f41c">started rising slightly two weeks ago</a>, although still at a rate 10 times less than last year before most residents were vaccinated.Despite signs omicron causes milder disease on average, the unprecedented level of infection spreading through the country, with cases still soaring in many states, means many vulnerable people will become severely sick. If the higher end of projections comes to pass, that would push total U.S. deaths from COVID-19 over 1 million by early spring.“A lot of people are still going to die because of how transmissible omicron has been,” said University of South Florida epidemiologist Jason Salemi. “It unfortunately is going to get worse before it gets better.”Morgues are starting to run out of space in Johnson County, Kansas, said Dr. Sanmi Areola, director of the health department. More than 30 residents have died in the county this year, the vast majority of them unvaccinated.But the notion that a generally less severe variant could still take the lives of thousands of people has been difficult for health experts to convey. The math of it — that a small percentage of a very high number of infections can yield a very high number of deaths — is difficult to visualize.“Overall, you’re going to see more sick people even if you as an individual have a lower chance of being sick,” said Katriona Shea of Pennsylvania State University, who co-leads a team that pulls together&nbsp;<a href="https://covid19scenariomodelinghub.org/" target="_blank">several pandemic models</a>&nbsp;and shares the combined projections with the White House.The wave of deaths heading for the United States will crest in late January or early February, Shea said. In early February, weekly deaths could equal or exceed the delta peak, and possibly even surpass the previous U.S. peak in deaths last year.Some unknown portion of these deaths are among people infected with the delta variant, but experts say omicron is also claiming lives.“This is omicron driven,” Shea said of the coming wave of deaths. The combined models project 1.5 million Americans will be hospitalized and 191,000 will die from mid-December through mid-March. Taking into account the uncertainty in the models, U.S. deaths during the omicron wave could range from 58,000 to 305,000.Yet, it’s become increasingly clear that the risk from omicron is lower than from previous variants. New evidence from nearly 70,000 patients in Southern California suggests omicron is causing milder illness than delta.A study, posted online and cited during a recent White House briefing, found patients with omicron had a 53% lower risk of hospitalization with respiratory symptoms, a 74% lower risk of ICU admission, and a 91% lower risk of death. The study, which has not yet been peer reviewed, comes from researchers at Kaiser Permanente and University of California, Berkeley.“It’s hard for me to say straight out it’s good news,” said study co-author Sara Y. Tartof, a Kaiser Permanente research scientist. “Maybe there’s good news in the sense that if you are infected your chance of becoming severely ill are decreased, but from a societal perspective it’s a very heavy burden for us. It remains a serious situation, and we need to maintain practices and behaviors we know protect us.”Overburdened hospitals could also contribute to more deaths, said Marc Lipsitch of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and scientific director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s forecasting center.“In places with extremely short staffing and overloads of patients, as the medical professionals have been telling us, the quality of care begins to suffer,” Lipsitch said. “That may also lead to higher death rates, but that’s not in any of the models that I’m aware of.”___

Report: US faces wave of omicron deaths in coming weeks

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the government will double to 1 billion the rapid, at-home COVID-19 tests to be distributed free to Americans, along with the most protective N95 masks, as he highlighted his efforts to “surge” resources to help the country weather the spike in coronavirus cases.

Biden also announced that starting next week 1,000 military medical personnel will begin deploying across the country to help overwhelmed medical facilities ease&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-health-coronavirus-pandemic-b6d58e41b209dd67ed0954f28b542baf">staff shortages</a>&nbsp;due to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-europe-london-england-eddf1657a9462547826881562b71f3b7">the highly transmissible omicron variant</a>.

Many facilities are struggling because their workers are in at-home quarantines due to the virus at the same time as a nationwide spike in COVID-19 cases. The new deployments will be on top of other federal medical personnel who have already been sent to states to help with acute shortages.

Speaking at the White House Thursday, Biden acknowledged that, “I know we’re all frustrated as we enter this new year” as virus cases reach new heights. But he insisted that it remains “a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”

Both vaccinated and unvaccinated people test positive for the virus, but Biden noted medical figures showing that people are far less likely to suffer serious illness and death if they’ve received a shot: “What happens after that could not be more different.”

Biden’s comments come as his administration’s focus is shifting to easing disruptions from the spike in cases that is also contributing to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/grocery-store-supply-chain-issues-166cc40b0ff095af9d0bf4041fa1b5fc">grocery shortages</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-travel-flight-cancellations-bed3b491ef8dfd778ac612e35add75fb">flight cancellations,&nbsp;</a>rather than preventing the transmission of the virus.

On Tuesday, Janet Woodcock, the acting head of the Food and Drug Administration, told Congress that the highly transmissible strain will infect “most people” and that the focus should turn to ensuring critical services can continue uninterrupted.

“I think it’s hard to process what’s actually happening right now, which is: Most people are going to get COVID, all right?” she said. “What we need to do is make sure the hospitals can still function — transportation, other essential services are not disrupted while this happens.”

Biden said that he is directing his team to double its procurement of rapid COVID-19 tests to be delivered for free to Americans through a forthcoming federal website, as he seeks to respond to criticism over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-science-travel-health-196255dcfe3e928b6f9f5779cd47be4e">shortages and long lines for tests</a>. The initial order was for 500 million tests, and now the federal government will purchase 1 billion at-home testing kits. Biden said the website will launch next week.

Biden also announced that for the first time his administration was planning to make high-quality N95 masks, which are most effective at preventing transmission of the virus, available for free. He said his administration would announce details next week.

The federal government has a stockpile of more than 750 million N95 masks, the White House said this week. And though research has shown those masks to be better protection, they are often more uncomfortable, and health officials are not altering their guidance to recommend against less-protective cloth masks.

The best mask “is the one that you will wear and the one you can keep on all day long, that you can tolerate in public indoor settings,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday.

Biden encouraged Americans to wear masks when indoors to slow the spread of the virus, even as he acknowledged they’re a “pain in the neck”

During Thursday’s remarks Biden was joined by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-biden-cabinet-lloyd-austin-john-cornyn-army-4d8848273e4e1fe6e4ad2dc8cee7313c">Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin</a>, who recently recovered from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-health-lloyd-austin-alejandro-mayorkas-d06d9606206265e8fae110cf7a549fd4">his own case of COVID-19</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-politics-new-york-coronavirus-pandemic-emergency-management-49cff31bd6d423da5379523f99835eef">FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell</a>. They were hearing about the work of the more than 800 military personnel who have been helping civilian hospitals since Thanksgiving and the more than 14,000&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-new-hampshire-dover-7352b829ecb9ca54d89df03fa6fd9191">National Guard members</a>&nbsp;whose work supporting vaccinations, testing and caring for patients is being covered by the federal government.

The White House said the they spoke with federal personnel who are already on the ground in Arizona, Michigan and New York to hear about their experiences.

Biden also announced that six additional military medical teams will be deployed to Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio and Rhode Island.

The White House said the teams will support Henry Ford Hospital just outside Detroit, University Hospital in Newark, the University of New Mexico hospital in Albuquerque, Coney Island Hospital in Brooklyn, Cleveland Clinic and Rhode Island Hospital in Providence.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the government will double to 1 billion the rapid, at-home COVID-19 tests to be distributed free to Americans, along with the most protective N95 masks, as he highlighted his efforts to “surge” resources to help the country weather the spike in coronavirus cases.<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FWhiteHouse%2Fvideos%2F627100008618297%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=17" width="560" height="314" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>Biden also announced that starting next week 1,000 military medical personnel will begin deploying across the country to help overwhelmed medical facilities ease&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-health-coronavirus-pandemic-b6d58e41b209dd67ed0954f28b542baf">staff shortages</a>&nbsp;due to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-europe-london-england-eddf1657a9462547826881562b71f3b7">the highly transmissible omicron variant</a>.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">President Biden just announced that our administration will purchase an additional 500 million COVID-19 at home tests, bringing the total number of tests that will be distributed for free to 1 billion. <a href="https://t.co/Ze8NSyKaf9">pic.twitter.com/Ze8NSyKaf9</a>&mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1481654833199259649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Many facilities are struggling because their workers are in at-home quarantines due to the virus at the same time as a nationwide spike in COVID-19 cases. The new deployments will be on top of other federal medical personnel who have already been sent to states to help with acute shortages.Speaking at the White House Thursday, Biden acknowledged that, “I know we’re all frustrated as we enter this new year” as virus cases reach new heights. But he insisted that it remains “a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”Both vaccinated and unvaccinated people test positive for the virus, but Biden noted medical figures showing that people are far less likely to suffer serious illness and death if they’ve received a shot: “What happens after that could not be more different.”Biden’s comments come as his administration’s focus is shifting to easing disruptions from the spike in cases that is also contributing to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/grocery-store-supply-chain-issues-166cc40b0ff095af9d0bf4041fa1b5fc">grocery shortages</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-travel-flight-cancellations-bed3b491ef8dfd778ac612e35add75fb">flight cancellations,&nbsp;</a>rather than preventing the transmission of the virus.On Tuesday, Janet Woodcock, the acting head of the Food and Drug Administration, told Congress that the highly transmissible strain will infect “most people” and that the focus should turn to ensuring critical services can continue uninterrupted.“I think it’s hard to process what’s actually happening right now, which is: Most people are going to get COVID, all right?” she said. “What we need to do is make sure the hospitals can still function — transportation, other essential services are not disrupted while this happens.”Biden said that he is directing his team to double its procurement of rapid COVID-19 tests to be delivered for free to Americans through a forthcoming federal website, as he seeks to respond to criticism over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-science-travel-health-196255dcfe3e928b6f9f5779cd47be4e">shortages and long lines for tests</a>. The initial order was for 500 million tests, and now the federal government will purchase 1 billion at-home testing kits. Biden said the website will launch next week.Biden also announced that for the first time his administration was planning to make high-quality N95 masks, which are most effective at preventing transmission of the virus, available for free. He said his administration would announce details next week.The federal government has a stockpile of more than 750 million N95 masks, the White House said this week. And though research has shown those masks to be better protection, they are often more uncomfortable, and health officials are not altering their guidance to recommend against less-protective cloth masks.The best mask “is the one that you will wear and the one you can keep on all day long, that you can tolerate in public indoor settings,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday.Biden encouraged Americans to wear masks when indoors to slow the spread of the virus, even as he acknowledged they’re a “pain in the neck”During Thursday’s remarks Biden was joined by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-biden-cabinet-lloyd-austin-john-cornyn-army-4d8848273e4e1fe6e4ad2dc8cee7313c">Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin</a>, who recently recovered from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-health-lloyd-austin-alejandro-mayorkas-d06d9606206265e8fae110cf7a549fd4">his own case of COVID-19</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-politics-new-york-coronavirus-pandemic-emergency-management-49cff31bd6d423da5379523f99835eef">FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell</a>. They were hearing about the work of the more than 800 military personnel who have been helping civilian hospitals since Thanksgiving and the more than 14,000&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-new-hampshire-dover-7352b829ecb9ca54d89df03fa6fd9191">National Guard members</a>&nbsp;whose work supporting vaccinations, testing and caring for patients is being covered by the federal government.The White House said the they spoke with federal personnel who are already on the ground in Arizona, Michigan and New York to hear about their experiences.Biden also announced that six additional military medical teams will be deployed to Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio and Rhode Island.The White House said the teams will support Henry Ford Hospital just outside Detroit, University Hospital in Newark, the University of New Mexico hospital in Albuquerque, Coney Island Hospital in Brooklyn, Cleveland Clinic and Rhode Island Hospital in Providence.

🎥 Biden now offering 1 billion free COVID tests to fight omicron

Riley County has identified 1,202 new COVID cases and 389 additional recoveries since the last report on January 5. This is the highest increase in case numbers in Riley County since the start of the pandemic.&nbsp;

Two Riley County residents have died in the last four days after testing positive for COVID-19.&nbsp;

“We have to hope that this surge will pass quickly and that the health system holds,” said Riley&nbsp;County&nbsp;Health Department Director Julie Gibbs. “What people can do now is stay home if they are sick, get medical care if they need help, and rely on information from medical professionals, health departments, and the CDC if they have questions. It is not too late to get vaccinated. Vaccines are your best resource to avoid serious illness.”&nbsp;

There are currently 1,017 active cases in Riley County and the percent of positive test results rose to 20.19% for the last two-week period.&nbsp;

Ascension Via Christi is currently caring for 18 COVID-positive patients. Six patients, all unvaccinated, are in the Intensive Care Unit. Four are on ventilators.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Nine of the other 12 patients are unvaccinated.&nbsp;

A&nbsp;40-year-old&nbsp;unvaccinated male tested positive on December 21, 2021 and died January 7&nbsp;at Ascension Via Christi&nbsp;in&nbsp;Manhattan. An&nbsp;86-year-old&nbsp;vaccinated male tested positive for COVID-19 on January 8 and passed away January 10 at Ascension Via Christi.&nbsp;&nbsp;

There have been at least five cases of the Omicron variant in Riley County as identified by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.&nbsp;&nbsp;

KDHE tests roughly&nbsp;two percent&nbsp;of positive cases for variants of concern, such as Omicron.&nbsp;

“Thankfully, most people who get the Omicron variant have mild symptoms, but the hospitals in Kansas are facing serious challenges as case numbers soar,” Gibbs&nbsp;said.&nbsp;

At 1:15 p.m. this Thursday, January 13 Local Health Officer Julie Gibbs and Ascension Via Christi President and CEO Robert Copple will appear live on the Riley County Health Department’s Facebook page to provide an update and answer questions. The video will be shared live with the public at https://www.facebook.com/Rileycountyhealthdepartment/ and saved to the page so people can watch it later.&nbsp;

The next written update will be published Wednesday, January 19.&nbsp;

Total positive cases in Riley County Residents: 10,372&nbsp;

Week 1 (January 2 - 8) &nbsp;19.99%&nbsp;

Week 52 (December 26, 2021 - January 1, 2022) 20.58%&nbsp;

Total Tested:&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;1,798&nbsp;

Contact Riley County Health Department&nbsp;

<h2>Two deaths, five cases of Omicron</h2>Riley County has identified 1,202 new COVID cases and 389 additional recoveries since the last report on January 5. This is the highest increase in case numbers in Riley County since the start of the pandemic.&nbsp;Two Riley County residents have died in the last four days after testing positive for COVID-19.&nbsp;“We have to hope that this surge will pass quickly and that the health system holds,” said Riley&nbsp;County&nbsp;Health Department Director Julie Gibbs. “What people can do now is stay home if they are sick, get medical care if they need help, and rely on information from medical professionals, health departments, and the CDC if they have questions. It is not too late to get vaccinated. Vaccines are your best resource to avoid serious illness.”&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/1/1642020489206.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>There are currently 1,017 active cases in Riley County and the percent of positive test results rose to 20.19% for the last two-week period.&nbsp;Ascension Via Christi is currently caring for 18 COVID-positive patients. Six patients, all unvaccinated, are in the Intensive Care Unit. Four are on ventilators.&nbsp;&nbsp;Nine of the other 12 patients are unvaccinated.&nbsp;A&nbsp;40-year-old&nbsp;unvaccinated male tested positive on December 21, 2021 and died January 7&nbsp;at Ascension Via Christi&nbsp;in&nbsp;Manhattan. An&nbsp;86-year-old&nbsp;vaccinated male tested positive for COVID-19 on January 8 and passed away January 10 at Ascension Via Christi.&nbsp;&nbsp;There have been at least five cases of the Omicron variant in Riley County as identified by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.&nbsp;&nbsp;KDHE tests roughly&nbsp;two percent&nbsp;of positive cases for variants of concern, such as Omicron.&nbsp;“Thankfully, most people who get the Omicron variant have mild symptoms, but the hospitals in Kansas are facing serious challenges as case numbers soar,” Gibbs&nbsp;said.&nbsp;At 1:15 p.m. this Thursday, January 13 Local Health Officer Julie Gibbs and Ascension Via Christi President and CEO Robert Copple will appear live on the Riley County Health Department’s Facebook page to provide an update and answer questions. The video will be shared live with the public at https://www.facebook.com/Rileycountyhealthdepartment/ and saved to the page so people can watch it later.&nbsp;The next written update will be published Wednesday, January 19.&nbsp;<h2>Riley County Stats for January 12, 2022</h2>Total positive cases in Riley County Residents: 10,372&nbsp;Total active: 1,017&nbsp;Total recovered: 9,287&nbsp;Total deaths: 68&nbsp;Percent Positive&nbsp;Two-Week Average: 20.19%&nbsp;Tested Positive: 1,087&nbsp;Tested Negative: 4,298&nbsp;Total Tested: 5,385&nbsp;Week 1 (January 2 - 8) &nbsp;19.99%&nbsp;Total Positives: 717 &nbsp;&nbsp;Total Tested: &nbsp; 3,857&nbsp;Week 52 (December 26, 2021 - January 1, 2022) 20.58%&nbsp;Total Positives: &nbsp; 370&nbsp;Total Tested:&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;1,798&nbsp;Contact Riley County Health Department&nbsp;COVID-19 testing (785) 323-6400&nbsp;COVID-19 vaccine (785) 565-6560&nbsp;--from RCHD

Record COVID surge in Riley County

By Scott Edger&nbsp; Little Apple Post&nbsp;

The Omicron variant is burying the&nbsp;Riley County Health&nbsp;Department in cases.&nbsp;Guidance changes&nbsp;from&nbsp;the&nbsp;Centers for Disease Control and Prevention&nbsp;are&nbsp;issued&nbsp;at every slight turn, sending local&nbsp;health&nbsp;officials into a scramble to&nbsp;modify public policy.&nbsp;

RCHD&nbsp;Director Julie Gibbs&nbsp;said Omicron is driving the surge in cases beyond&nbsp;the department’s capacity.&nbsp;More than 500 cases have erupted in the county since&nbsp;Christmas.&nbsp;

“We're seeing so much now and&nbsp;it's&nbsp;just come on so quickly,” Gibbs said. “I can almost guarantee that it’s the&nbsp;Omicron&nbsp;variant."

Gibbs said the Health Department has&nbsp;unfortunately had to send some cases to KDHE, but “we're hanging on to all of our cases 18 and younger, and 55 and older.”&nbsp;

RCHD can&nbsp;send KDHE up to 50 cases per day&nbsp;and they have maxed that limit on several recent days.&nbsp;

After assigning some cases to KDHE, the Health Department&nbsp;manages 40 to 50 cases per day.&nbsp;

Currently,&nbsp;RCHD is following the latest guidance&nbsp;from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment; KDHE&nbsp;is trying to follow the latest&nbsp;guidance from the&nbsp;CDC; and CDC&nbsp;issues&nbsp;confusing,&nbsp;and&nbsp;often contradictory,&nbsp;new&nbsp;guidance&nbsp;with alacrity.&nbsp;

RCHD is&nbsp;still offering&nbsp;in-house,&nbsp;rapid symptomatic testing Monday through Friday&nbsp;form 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.&nbsp;&nbsp;

KDHE is still available&nbsp;on the west end of the Manhattan Town Center&nbsp;mall&nbsp;parking lot. The location was&nbsp;shut down for a couple days last week due to the cold, creating a logjam of patients seeking tests once the weather broke.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Gibbs said she is&nbsp;working on “Plan B”:&nbsp;looking for a suitable facility that will allow inside testing.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

RCHD is adequately supplied for the time being, but Gibbs said her department is seeking other options for test kits and other vital supplies.&nbsp;

“We're actively searching for another source&nbsp;of&nbsp;tests,” Gibbs said.&nbsp;“We're just trying to keep up with the demand.&nbsp;

“We're OK right now but it's a matter of time before our supplies run out.”&nbsp;

RCHD is&nbsp;still&nbsp;waiting on the final written&nbsp;guidance&nbsp;from KDHE&nbsp;regarding&nbsp;schools,&nbsp;but&nbsp;Gibbs said her department is working with USD 383 to&nbsp;formulate&nbsp;guidance.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“It's been very confusing especially when CDC comes out with&nbsp;new&nbsp;guidance,” Gibbs said.&nbsp;&nbsp;

RCHD is communicating directly with district health personnel&nbsp;to clarify guidelines.&nbsp;

"We&nbsp;work with the&nbsp;school&nbsp;nurses to make it more streamlined,” Gibbs said.&nbsp;“We&nbsp;finally have some really good written guidance out for all the schools to follow.”

Under the best of circumstances, access to daycare facilities is challenging. COVID regulations forced&nbsp;them&nbsp;to shut down&nbsp;temporarily,&nbsp;creating financial devastation in the industry.&nbsp;

As&nbsp;regulations&nbsp;have&nbsp;eased, daycares that survived&nbsp;still face challenges – they either cannot find&nbsp;enough workers, or they don’t have enough&nbsp;kids to sustain themselves because&nbsp;far fewer&nbsp;people are working now.&nbsp;

“We haven't seen any&nbsp;new&nbsp;information for&nbsp;daycare settings,” Gibbs said,&nbsp;“and so they're sticking with the&nbsp;old&nbsp;guidance.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

Gibbs said&nbsp;several&nbsp;Riley County daycares&nbsp;have&nbsp;been forced to close.&nbsp;

By Scott Edger&nbsp; Little Apple Post&nbsp;The Omicron variant is burying the&nbsp;Riley County Health&nbsp;Department in cases.&nbsp;Guidance changes&nbsp;from&nbsp;the&nbsp;Centers for Disease Control and Prevention&nbsp;are&nbsp;issued&nbsp;at every slight turn, sending local&nbsp;health&nbsp;officials into a scramble to&nbsp;modify public policy.&nbsp;RCHD&nbsp;Director Julie Gibbs&nbsp;said Omicron is driving the surge in cases beyond&nbsp;the department’s capacity.&nbsp;More than 500 cases have erupted in the county since&nbsp;Christmas.&nbsp;“We're seeing so much now and&nbsp;it's&nbsp;just come on so quickly,” Gibbs said. “I can almost guarantee that it’s the&nbsp;Omicron&nbsp;variant."Gibbs said the Health Department has&nbsp;unfortunately had to send some cases to KDHE, but “we're hanging on to all of our cases 18 and younger, and 55 and older.”&nbsp;RCHD can&nbsp;send KDHE up to 50 cases per day&nbsp;and they have maxed that limit on several recent days.&nbsp;After assigning some cases to KDHE, the Health Department&nbsp;manages 40 to 50 cases per day.&nbsp;Currently,&nbsp;RCHD is following the latest guidance&nbsp;from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment; KDHE&nbsp;is trying to follow the latest&nbsp;guidance from the&nbsp;CDC; and CDC&nbsp;issues&nbsp;confusing,&nbsp;and&nbsp;often contradictory,&nbsp;new&nbsp;guidance&nbsp;with alacrity.&nbsp;RCHD is&nbsp;still offering&nbsp;in-house,&nbsp;rapid symptomatic testing Monday through Friday&nbsp;form 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.&nbsp;&nbsp;KDHE is still available&nbsp;on the west end of the Manhattan Town Center&nbsp;mall&nbsp;parking lot. The location was&nbsp;shut down for a couple days last week due to the cold, creating a logjam of patients seeking tests once the weather broke.&nbsp;&nbsp;Gibbs said she is&nbsp;working on “Plan B”:&nbsp;looking for a suitable facility that will allow inside testing.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>Supply Situation</h2> RCHD is adequately supplied for the time being, but Gibbs said her department is seeking other options for test kits and other vital supplies.&nbsp;“We're actively searching for another source&nbsp;of&nbsp;tests,” Gibbs said.&nbsp;“We're just trying to keep up with the demand.&nbsp;“We're OK right now but it's a matter of time before our supplies run out.”&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/1/1641989388091.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><h2>K-12 Schools</h2>RCHD is&nbsp;still&nbsp;waiting on the final written&nbsp;guidance&nbsp;from KDHE&nbsp;regarding&nbsp;schools,&nbsp;but&nbsp;Gibbs said her department is working with USD 383 to&nbsp;formulate&nbsp;guidance.&nbsp;&nbsp;“It's been very confusing especially when CDC comes out with&nbsp;new&nbsp;guidance,” Gibbs said.&nbsp;&nbsp;RCHD is communicating directly with district health personnel&nbsp;to clarify guidelines.&nbsp;"We&nbsp;work with the&nbsp;school&nbsp;nurses to make it more streamlined,” Gibbs said.&nbsp;“We&nbsp;finally have some really good written guidance out for all the schools to follow.”<h2>Daycares</h2>Under the best of circumstances, access to daycare facilities is challenging. COVID regulations forced&nbsp;them&nbsp;to shut down&nbsp;temporarily,&nbsp;creating financial devastation in the industry.&nbsp;As&nbsp;regulations&nbsp;have&nbsp;eased, daycares that survived&nbsp;still face challenges – they either cannot find&nbsp;enough workers, or they don’t have enough&nbsp;kids to sustain themselves because&nbsp;far fewer&nbsp;people are working now.&nbsp;“We haven't seen any&nbsp;new&nbsp;information for&nbsp;daycare settings,” Gibbs said,&nbsp;“and so they're sticking with the&nbsp;old&nbsp;guidance.”&nbsp;&nbsp;Gibbs said&nbsp;several&nbsp;Riley County daycares&nbsp;have&nbsp;been forced to close.&nbsp;

COVID variants, inconsistent guidance mire Health Department  

Riley County health officials have identified 161 new COVID-19 cases and 176 additional recoveries since the last report on Wednesday, December 29. There are currently 206 active cases in Riley County and the percent of positive test results rose to 14.59% for the week of December 26. Ascension Via Christi Hospital in Manhattan is caring for 23 COVID-positive patients at this time, which is the highest number hospitalized locally since the start of the pandemic. There are 16 patients on the medical floor and 7 in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on ventilators. A total of 17 hospitalized COVID-positive patients are unvaccinated, 6 in the ICU and 11 on the medical floor.&nbsp; Testing for symptomatic individuals will continue to be available at the Riley County Health Department (RCHD) Monday through Friday, but appointments are filling up quickly. Anyone who cannot get scheduled for a testing appointment at RCHD can also contact their medical provider or visit the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) drive-through testing site in the north parking lot of Manhattan Town Center to get tested. “First and most importantly, anyone who has any symptoms of COVID should stay home and isolate,” said Local Health Officer Julie Gibbs. “Even if you are fortunate enough to have mild symptoms, you could be spreading the virus to someone who ends up in the hospital. Please talk to a medical professional if you have questions.” Because of the increased case volume and a reduction in staff positions, some Riley County residents who test positive may be contacted by KDHE instead of the health department for contact tracing. KDHE had previously provided funding directly to county health departments, which Riley County used&nbsp;to support&nbsp;contact tracing staff positions. KDHE is&nbsp;now encouraging counties to refer all or part of their contact tracing needs to the state. The reduced funding resulted in a loss of 8.5 positions or 340 hours of staff time per week at RCHD and the gap will be filled by KDHE contact tracing staff. The next update will be published Wednesday, January 12. Riley County Statistics for January 5, 2022:

Riley County health officials have identified 161 new COVID-19 cases and 176 additional recoveries since the last report on Wednesday, December 29. There are currently 206 active cases in Riley County and the percent of positive test results rose to 14.59% for the week of December 26. Ascension Via Christi Hospital in Manhattan is caring for 23 COVID-positive patients at this time, which is the highest number hospitalized locally since the start of the pandemic. There are 16 patients on the medical floor and 7 in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on ventilators. A total of 17 hospitalized COVID-positive patients are unvaccinated, 6 in the ICU and 11 on the medical floor.&nbsp; Testing for symptomatic individuals will continue to be available at the Riley County Health Department (RCHD) Monday through Friday, but appointments are filling up quickly. Anyone who cannot get scheduled for a testing appointment at RCHD can also contact their medical provider or visit the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) drive-through testing site in the north parking lot of Manhattan Town Center to get tested. “First and most importantly, anyone who has any symptoms of COVID should stay home and isolate,” said Local Health Officer Julie Gibbs. “Even if you are fortunate enough to have mild symptoms, you could be spreading the virus to someone who ends up in the hospital. Please talk to a medical professional if you have questions.” Because of the increased case volume and a reduction in staff positions, some Riley County residents who test positive may be contacted by KDHE instead of the health department for contact tracing. KDHE had previously provided funding directly to county health departments, which Riley County used&nbsp;to support&nbsp;contact tracing staff positions. KDHE is&nbsp;now encouraging counties to refer all or part of their contact tracing needs to the state. The reduced funding resulted in a loss of 8.5 positions or 340 hours of staff time per week at RCHD and the gap will be filled by KDHE contact tracing staff. The next update will be published Wednesday, January 12. Riley County Statistics for January 5, 2022:<ul>
 <li>Total positive cases in Riley County Residents: 9,170</li><li>Total active: 206</li><li>Total recovered: 8.898</li><li>Total deaths: 66</li>
 </ul>

14.59% positive rate and 161 new COVID cases in Riley County

TOPEKA— The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Kansas was much larger to end 2021 than on New Year's Day a year ago.

On January 1, 2021, the Kansas Department of Health reported an increase of 5,312 cases of COVID to a total of 227,745 statewide. Coronavirus deaths were reported at 2,879 an increase of 138.

<a href="https://www.kansasvaccine.gov/158/Data">Click here for Data</a>&nbsp;about the COVID-19 vaccine.

This year, due to the holiday, the KDHE released no new numbers on New Year's Eve Friday. On Wednesday, the state reported an increase of 7,083 COVID cases for a total of 519,544. The state reported 37 additional COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday for a total of 7,001 since the beginning of the pandemic.

As of August 1, 2021, in accordance with an&nbsp;<a href="https://ndc.services.cdc.gov/conditions/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/" target="_blank">updated CDC/CSTE surveillance case definition</a>, a confirmed case is defined as a person who tested positive by molecular detection&nbsp;(e.g., PCR, NAA) or identification of SARS-CoV-2 through genetic sequencing. A probable case is defined as a person with: a) presumptive lab evidence (antigen) or b) no lab testing but meeting clinical case criteria and is epi-linked. A person will be counted as a new surveillance case (e.g. reinfection) if they test positive for SARS-CoV-2 by a diagnostic test (i.e., molecular, antigen) and it has been greater than 90 days since the previous positive diagnostic test. In addition, a person with sequencing results identifying different SARS-CoV-2 lineages regardless of the time since the previous specimen sequenced will be counted as a new surveillance case.&nbsp;

TOPEKA— The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Kansas was much larger to end 2021 than on New Year's Day a year ago.On January 1, 2021, the Kansas Department of Health reported an increase of 5,312 cases of COVID to a total of 227,745 statewide. Coronavirus deaths were reported at 2,879 an increase of 138.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/1/1609526207240.png" alt="Friday Jan. 1, 2021 KDHE image" />
 <figcaption>Friday Jan. 1, 2021 KDHE image</figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://www.kansasvaccine.gov/158/Data">Click here for Data</a>&nbsp;about the COVID-19 vaccine.<a href="https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/160/COVID-19-in-Kansas">Click here&nbsp;</a>for additional virus numbers from the KDHE.This year, due to the holiday, the KDHE released no new numbers on New Year's Eve Friday. On Wednesday, the state reported an increase of 7,083 COVID cases for a total of 519,544. The state reported 37 additional COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday for a total of 7,001 since the beginning of the pandemic.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1640805043111.png" alt="Wednesday Dec. 29, 2021 KDHE image" />
 <figcaption>Wednesday Dec. 29, 2021 KDHE image</figcaption>
 </figure>As of August 1, 2021, in accordance with an&nbsp;<a href="https://ndc.services.cdc.gov/conditions/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/" target="_blank">updated CDC/CSTE surveillance case definition</a>, a confirmed case is defined as a person who tested positive by molecular detection&nbsp;(e.g., PCR, NAA) or identification of SARS-CoV-2 through genetic sequencing. A probable case is defined as a person with: a) presumptive lab evidence (antigen) or b) no lab testing but meeting clinical case criteria and is epi-linked. A person will be counted as a new surveillance case (e.g. reinfection) if they test positive for SARS-CoV-2 by a diagnostic test (i.e., molecular, antigen) and it has been greater than 90 days since the previous positive diagnostic test. In addition, a person with sequencing results identifying different SARS-CoV-2 lineages regardless of the time since the previous specimen sequenced will be counted as a new surveillance case.&nbsp;Cases occurring between&nbsp;September 1, 2020&nbsp;and July 29, 2021 were classified by&nbsp;<a href="https://ndc.services.cdc.gov/conditions/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/" target="_blank">previous CDC/CSTE case definition,&nbsp;</a>and cases prior to September 1, 2020 were classified by the&nbsp;<a href="https://ndc.services.cdc.gov/case-definitions/coronavirus-disease-2019-2020/" target="_blank">original case definition</a>.

KDHE: Comparing COVID numbers from New Year's Day 2021

As of December 1, Riley County had 100 active COVID-19 cases, with 57 new cases and eight people hospitalized.

As of December 1, Riley County had 100 active COVID-19 cases, with 57 new cases and eight people hospitalized.The 14-day cumulative positive rate&nbsp; is 4.7 percent.Starting this week, the take-home COVID-19 saliva test kits formerly provided by KDHE and distributed at the Riley County Health Department will no longer be available. You can still get a free COVID-19 test at the Health Department by calling our Screening Line at (785) 323-6400.&nbsp;The state contract that funded the take-home test kit program has ended but KDHE is still offering free drive-up testing at the Manhattan Town Center parking lot (north side of the mall) from 8:00 a.m. -5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.&nbsp;If you have any symptoms of COVID, please don’t hesitate to get tested.&nbsp;

Coronavirus Update