By William / www.mcpherson-county-ks.com

MCPHERSON – When the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) released its latest Covid numbers on Wednesday, November 17, three McPherson County facilities made the Covid Cluster Summary, including two county Middle Schools.

According to the latest state Covid cluster summary, both the McPherson Middle School and the Smoky Valley Middle School in Lindsborg were found to be on the listing. The McPherson Middle School showed a report of 12 Covid cases as of Friday, November 12 while Smoky Valley Middle School had a listing of 15 Covid cases as of Monday, November 15.

Also listed as a Covid cluster source was McPherson Health and Rehab. The long term care facility reported nine (9) cases as of Monday, November 15.

Other area facilities or groups listed as Covid clusters include:

  • Harvey County = Harvey County Detention Center with five (5) cases as of Thursday, November 11.
  • Marion County = Marion Elementary School with 12 cases as of Wednesday, November 10.
  • Reno County = Buhler Grade School with 13 cases as of Tuesday, November 9.
  • Saline County = The Group Living Complex, St. Francis Group Home in Salina with six (6) cases as of Friday, November 12.
  • Saline County = St. Mary’s Elementary School in Salina with 14 cases as of Tuesday, November 9.

Currently, McPherson County is showing a rate of 167.6 cases per 1,000 individuals which is an increase of 3.4 since we reported a week ago. The state rate is 155.46, an increase of 2.68 since a week ago.

As we reported on Tuesday, McPherson County currently has 4,843 overall cases reported with 98 deaths.

Here is how other Central Kansas Counties are doing with overall cases and deaths from previous week:

  • Harvey County reports 5,312 cases with 92 deaths (an increase of 102 cases and 4 deaths).
  • Marion County reports 1,817 cases with 35 deaths (an increase of 83 cases and 1 death).
  • Reno County reports 11,899 cases with 171 deaths (an increase of 309 cases and 3 deaths).
  • Rice County reports 1,516 cases with 15 deaths (an increase of 26 cases with 0 new deaths).
  • Saline County reports 8,863 cases with 186 deaths (an increase of 162 cases and 1 new death).

Of the area counties, only McPherson County and Saline County show a death rate of near or over 2% per number of cases with 2.0% and 2.1%, respectively.

All information can be found at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment website = https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/160/COVID-19-in-Kansas