COVID-19 health survey receives more than 11,000 responses from Douglas County residents

Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health received 11,405 responses to its COVID-19 survey, about 1% of which reported persistent symptoms of the coronavirus.

BY SYDNEY HOOVER

About 1% of respondents to a Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health’s COVID-19 survey reported symptoms consistent with the coronavirus that have lasted more than two weeks.

Of the 11,405 respondents, 114 Douglas County residents reported having symptoms such as fever, cough and shortness of breath. Currently, the county has 44 lab-confirmed positive cases, with 38 reported as recovered. More than 1,100 people have been tested.

“If some people are thinking we don’t have very many positive cases and the numbers right now aren’t going up very high or very quickly, according to this survey data, we would say at the moment, we are not symptom-free,” said Dee Vernberg, senior analyst with Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, in a statement.

Vernberg urged residents to continue following the state’s stay-at-home order and practicing social distancing, as well as wearing a mask when going out in public.

The survey also found 600 people who had experienced symptoms of the coronavirus that had resolved within the last two weeks. There were 59 others who self-reported being tested for the virus, with five of those being positive, 50 negative and four unknown.

The survey found the biggest concern among residents is that some are not taking the pandemic and state health orders seriously.

“We believe our social distancing and things people are doing by staying at home have really made a difference, but people are still getting the disease, so it’s important for everyone to keep up these practices for now,” Vernberg said.

Vernberg said Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health plans to conduct the survey again, and encouraged those who already took the survey to take it again during the second wave in order to hear from as many residents as possible.

The Eudora Times will share the follow-up survey link when it’s released.

Reach reporter Sydney Hoover at eudoratimes@gmail.com.

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