As of Monday morning, Ellsworth County had 12 active cases of COVID-19.

That was the beginning of an update on the virus the Ellsworth County commissioners received from Kerianne Ehrlich, county health department supervisor, and Dr. Ronald Whitmer, county health officer.

Ehrlich said as of Friday, Sept. 10, the state reported the county as being 53 percent vaccinated for the virus.

She said the state does a county ranking that takes into consideration a county’s COVID-19 vaccination rate, COVID cases per 100,000, and the COVID testing rate.

“As of Friday we were No. 10 in the state, which is pretty good because that is out of all 104 health departments,” Ehrlich said.

Ehrlich said she is busy testing for COVID-19. Most positive cases have come back from the state as being the Delta variant, which is much more contagious and transmissible.

“The kids are more susceptible to this one than we were seeing with the previous strain,” she said.

Ehrlich said the problem in testing kids is determining if it is COVID-19 or strep, because the symptoms are so similar.

“Usually, if they test for one, they test for both,” she added.

Ehrlich noted the health department is having to send most of its testing out to the state or another lab because of the short supply of reagent which the Ellsworth County Medical Center uses to process the rapid test.

She noted turnaround time on the tests has improved to 48 hours, with a state supplied courier.

Ehrlich said the health department still has all three vaccines, Johnson and Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer, in stock. She said since July, the coun

She said since July, the county has seen 24 breakthrough cases of COVID-19 out of a total of 76 active cases. None were hospitalized.

Dr. Whitmer said in the last three weeks, ECMC has had at least 10 people in the hospital with COVID.

He said two people in the hospital right now have been vaccinated. The reason they are in the hospital is because their son takes care of them.

“He has COVID and is not doing very well,” Whitmer added. “Hopefully, the son gets better so he can take care of them again.”

Whitmer said their condition is nothing like those admitted to the hospital that are unvaccinated.

He noted there have been three or four children in the community younger than age 12 years that have had COVID.

Ehrlich said she heard Monday that October is when children ages 5-12 will be able to be vaccinated against COVID.

Mary Schmidt, who was in the audience at Monday’s commission meeting, suggested face masks be worn by children to keep them safe if COVID shows up in the local schools.

Cee Heller, another audience member, said it’s up to parents, not the school, to determine whether kids wear masks in school.

“We, ultimately, have to decide for ourselves,” Heller said.

In other business:

• Greg Heller said after the county moved the speed sign on the Low Road coming into Kanopolis, it slowed down motorists for just about a week and then it was ignored.

“Speed limit signs aren’t any good unless they are enforced,” he said.

Heller suggested commissioners talk to Sheriff Murray Marston about patrolling the area more frequently.

• A $9,992 bid from Stueder Contractors in Great Bend to install a heating and air conditioning system in the new classroom at the EMS Department was approved.

• Nathan Florian, county EMS director, said he has hired a full-time technician and has one opening but five applications.

“We should be fully staffed pretty quick,” he said.

• Commissioners discussed having Fox Lawn and Landscaping install landscaping on the courthouse grounds. They will seek information and plan from the owner of Fox Lawn and Landscaping before making a decision.

• Staff members from the Midway Extension District each gave brief updates on their programs. They ranged from handling 100 Ellsworth County exhibits this year at the Kansas State Fair, not counting livestock, to the beef show as well. Midway District plans to conduct a blue stem field day in October and is also planning a Women in Ag Series this winter. Other activities include the Simply Produce program (the location for pick-up of the produce is now the Ellsworth American Legion) and planning for a possible community garden in Ellsworth.

From the Sept. 7 meeting:

• Commissioners approved the following to receive the first half ($592,621) of the county’s planned $1,185,242 in American Rescue Act funds: Maico Industries ($80,500), H&B Communications ($73,512), Post Rock Rural Water District ($117,350), Ellsworth County ($6,000 for water fountains), Ellsworth County EMS ($196,680), Ellsworth County Sheriff Office ($56,000), North Central Flint Hills ($6,000), Ellsworth Senior Center ($1,348), Ellsworth County ($25,600 for sanitizing stations), and administration fees ($29,631).

In a related matter, commissioners also approved the ARA plan procurement policy, records retention policy, risk assessment policy, the preaward subrecipient risk assessment, the pre-award risk assessment tool, the conflict of interest policy, the suspension and debarment policy and the single audit certification.

• Bob Frederickson noted he attended the Aug. 30 meeting of the Ellsworth County Comprehensive plan conducted by the North Central Regional Planning Commission in Beloit. He was disappointed only six people attended the meeting and only one of the three commissioners were present.

• Approval was given to the purchase of flooring for the EMS classroom using the county credit card. The flooring will be purchased from Menards for $1,176.76.

• Kermit Rush, former county commissioner, expressed concern for the condition of 21st Road from the Scates Cemetery coming into town. He asked whether commissioners could mention it to the Road and Bridge Department.

At Monday’s meeting, Commissioner Dennis Rolfs said he had driven that road after Rush had expressed concerns and it appeared the road had been maintained and was in good shape.

“The kids are more susceptible to this one than we were seeing with the previous strain,”

Kerianne Ehrlich

Ellsworth County Health Department