Riley County Health officials said Thursday that the following statistics have been, and will be, continuously evaluated in making any determination to hold, proceed, or revert to earlier phases of the COVID-19 reopening plan:
- Total number of active cases
- Severity of current cases
- Hospital capacity and ability to accept more patients
- Percent of positive test results, averaged over the last fourteen days
- Capacity to meet testing and contact tracing needs based on current numbers
- Locations and contact tracing of individuals showing up positive, i.e community spread, or specific known sources unrelated to gatherings or community contact
Authorities said there are too many variables to place a single, hard number on cases or positive tests to set a single trigger for actions. For example, K-State is testing athletes and incoming new students. They could test 1,000 students and have 20 positives, which would be the largest single spike in cases, yet would be a low percent of positives and all cases that acquired the virus elsewhere. That would not be reflective of the actual situation within Riley County.
A handful of seriously-ill patients who acquired the virus in the community would be much more significant than a cluster of mildly ill patients who all got it from a single, known source, that could be isolated.