10th Virus Death Reported By Health Department; 5th This Month

A 10th Cowley County resident has died due to COVID-19, according to the City-Cowley County Health Department Tuesday morning.

No information about the deceased has been released by the health department as of Tuesday morning.

It is the seventh death reported by the health department since an elderly Ark City man died on Sept. 19 and the fifth death reported this month.

The health department reports there are 42 active cases of the virus in the county and that 37 of those active cases are attributed to the Winfield Correctional Facility. 

The health department also addressed the difference between it’s total number case count and the state’s county tallied by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

“The Cowley County Data is filtered to reflect the confirmed PCR tests and the probable Antigen test results,” the health department states on its website below its COVID statistics. “Many people ask why the numbers on this page for positive results are not identical to the KDHE website? KDHE also includes in their totals the positive results reported by the Winfield Correctional Facility.

“The local health department does not manage or count the correctional facility cases.”

According to Monday’s KDHE report, Cowley County has totaled 506 cases of COVID-19 since a national emergency proclamation was issued by the White House on March 13

So far, 5,746 tests have been administered in the county. Cowley County’s population is nearly 35,000.

Overall, the state of Kansas has totaled 72,968 virus cases since the pandemic began and deaths attributed to the virus now number 872 since March.

Kay County, Oklahoma, has totaled 802 cases so far and deaths are now at 16. For the state of Oklahoma, cases have so far totaled 109,548 and deaths have risen to 1,191.

More on COVID in Kay County can be read here.