Reno County remains in the orange alert level as an overall county for COVID-19, but the school gating criteria is in the red.
According to the situation report that comes out three times a week and was released on Wednesday, there were 344 active cases in the county. That number was down to 340 as of Wednesday evening.
The 14-day positive test rate is at 17.3% and the 14-day new case count is 250, both would put the county in the red of the school gating criteria.
Ten people are currently hospitalized. Sixty-two have been hospitalized since the beginning of the outbreak. Of those 62, 31 have been in the ICU and eight have been intubated. Eight people have died.
Reno County is up to 17.45% of the population tested as of Wednesday evening. More testing is taking place. There were 139 completed tests at Salt City Splash Tuesday. A testing date is happening Thursday at the Sports Arena west parking lot from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Enter through the 11th Street entrance. You can be tested whether you have symptoms or not, but you need to have an appointment to be tested.
The next testing date is Saturday at Haven High School from 10 a.m. to noon. Call 844-834-3657 to make an appointment.
More community testing improves the positive test rate as well as identifies early COVID-19 cases, which prevents future transmission to others. Robust testing is a key to keeping schools open.