More than 30 cases, including four deaths, affected the Logan nursing home
By KIRBY ROSS
Phillips County Review
Main Street Media recently published a well-received Spanish seven-part influenza pandemic series from 1918-1920 in six newspapers in north-central Kansas. For those who read it, you know that in January 1920, Phillips County made headlines across the state for being Kansas’ primary entry point for that deadly disease.
2020 pandemic outbreak
Now, exactly a century later, and with a massive city council political rally scheduled to take place in Phillipsburg within just 48 hours of Wednesday, July 15, Phillips County is back in the headlines, this time national, for being the Kansas best hotspot in a deadly pandemic outbreak; this time for the coronavirus COVID-19.
That dubious distinction is occurring now that the virus found a way to the Logan Manor nursing home in Logan two weeks ago, where it has been cutting a devastating path through that facility ever since.
With the COVID pandemic hitting Kansas in March, its march through Phillips County had originally been slow.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported that the first case hit Phillipsburg County the week of April 5.
Case number two from Phillips County appeared about a month later during the week of May 10. That infection was also in Phillipsburg.
And during the week of June 7, a third case occurred in rural Phillipsburg.
The three cases were isolated and are not related to each other.
Then came Logan in early July.
With each new infection diagnosed by COVID-19 taking place at intervals of about 30 days, what is happening as a result of the latest outbreak is that the people of Phillips County are reeling.
In the first week of July, the KDHE, along with the Phillips County Health Office, announced that COVID-19 had passed the extraordinary screening and protection measures implemented at the Logan Manor 36-bed nursing home in Logan, in southwest Phillips County
On Wednesday, July 1, four total cases had been identified there.
On Thursday, July 2, that count was up to seven.
After that, the numbers exploded. On Friday, July 3, there were now 25 cases: 17 residents and eight staff members. Most of the infected residents were quarantined at the scene, and some of the sickest were transported to Kearney and Hays Hospitals.
First came the diagnoses, then the deaths. They started on Tuesday, July 7, when two male residents, ages 87 and 47, were sued for the effects of the disease. The elderly man passed away at Logan’s facilities, while the younger man died at Hays Medical Center.
Late Thursday, July 9 and early Friday, July 10, two more deaths of Logan Manor residents occurred. And after another round of testing last week, there were also eight new COVID diagnoses, five residents and three employees, bringing Logan Manor’s total statistics through July 10 to four dead and 33 infected (not including the three originals not previously related). cases in other parts of the county).
Those two most recent deaths from July 9 to 10 involved a 92-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man. Both died at Logan Manor.
24/7 WALL STREET IDENTIFIES PHILLIPS COUNTY AS THE BEST KANSAS HOTSPOT
That same day, Friday, July 10, 24/7, Wall Street, a New York-based business and finance publication, released a report identifying the top counties “in every state where COVID-19 is growing fastest.”
It should be noted that the Wall Street study, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, includes statistics as of Tuesday, July 7, and does not include the most recent Phillips County cases and deaths that are still ongoing. .
Before his article with the following, the post noted:
“More than 3 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the United States, and more than 130,000 people have died as a result of the coronavirus, by far the majority of cases and deaths in any country.
“Within the United States, the extent of the spread varies considerably from state to state, and even from county to county.
“As the number of new daily cases is decreasing in some parts of the United States, they are increasing alarmingly in others. In the vast majority of states, the number of daily new cases increases, and as a result, several states have paused their planned reopens.
“Using data from state and local health departments, we compiled and reviewed the average of new daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 for the week ending July 7 and compared it to the average of new daily cases from the prior week for determine the county in each indicate where the virus grows faster. “
As part of their analysis, 24/7 reported that the average number of new daily cases per capita across the country increased from 11.1 per 100,000 people during the week ending June 30, to 14.8 per 100,000 in the week ending July 7th.
In its analysis of counties in the fastest growing outbreak states, 24/7 identified Phillips County as the fastest growing outbreak in Kansas.
In naming it as the main access point, 24/7 Wall Street provided the following data:
Kansas: Phillips County
• Change in daily average of new cases of COVID week to week: 15.1 per 100,000 people
• Average daily new cases in Phillips County in 7 days ending July 7: 17 per 100,000
• Average daily new cases in Phillips County in 7 days ending June 30: 2 per 100,000
• Average daily new cases in Kansas in 7 days through July 7: 11 per 100,000
• Confirmed COVID cases accumulated in Phillips County as of July 7: 499 per 100,000 people (total: 27)
• Population: 5,408
• Largest Place in Phillips County: Phillipsburg
STATEMENT BY PHILLIPS COUNTY HEALTH OFFICER
Pete Rogers, July 10: “We are incredibly saddened by the families, residents, and staff at Logan Manor. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. Just a reminder: wear social distancing, wear masks in public where social distancing is unlikely, use good hand hygiene, and stay home if you feel sick or have a fever of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. “
Republished with permission
