COVID numbers down to 13 active in county

The COVID-19 numbers change almost daily, but they have been trending down lately in Washington County. As of Tuesday, there were 13 active cases of COVID in the county and no hospitalizations according to Tiffany Hayman, County Health Officer.

The active total was at 10 on Monday, but over the last couple weeks, it had been up and down. It was down to 14 active cases two weeks ago, but went back up to 21 early last week.

However, this is the lowest the active case count has been (when tallied weekly on Tuesdays) since Oct. 27 when it was at seven cases.

Before that, the active total was always in the low single digits until before September when it was often zero.

The same decrease has been seen across the region, with all but two counties in the 14-county region around Washington County experiencing declining active numbers.

Nemaha County is below 100 cases (when using a 14- day rolling total of new positive tests) for the first time since late October. Their most current number is 83, down from 119.

Republic County continues to see decreases, now below 50 active cases along with a decrease of hospitalizations from 12 to two.

Riley County is down to 290 active cases. They hit over 800 when college kids returned in August, and then decreased before they saw another peak during a regional wave of increases in mid-November when they hit 551.

Clay County is at 127, which is its lowest point since Nov. 10.

Cloud County is still above 100, but continues a downward trend, with this week’s rolling 14-day positive test total of 104, down from 141 last week.

The only increases in the region were in Marshall County (52 to 62 active cases) and Pottawattamie County (70 to 115).

Hospitalizations continue to seem to have no reliable connection to the COVID case counts.