Positive COVID-19 testing percentage doubled in a little over a week in Sedgwick County

The percent of coronavirus tests that come back positive for COVID-19 has doubled in a little more than a week in Sedgwick County.

The Sedgwick County Health Department’s online dashboard for the pandemic lists the rolling 14-day average percent of tests that are positive.

The number was 7.91% for Wednesday, which is the most recent data available. It was 3.69% on June 21, which was last Sunday. The number has been rising since late May, when the state and local economies reopened without restrictions. The current percentage is about eight times what it was on May 26 and 27, when the percentages were 0.99%.

The 7.91% for Wednesday is the highest value in the local area since May 2, when it was 10.89%.

The health department reported 50 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. There were no additional deaths or recoveries, so the number of active cases also rose by 50.

There are now 598 active cases. There have been 1,328 total cases, 28 deaths and 702 recoveries.

Of the 50 new cases, 15 were exposed through a close contact and five through community spread. The remaining 30 cases are still under investigation by epidemiologists for the source of exposure.

An additional 138 tests have been administered, raising the total to 29,938.

The number of tests per day has been higher in the past two months than it was at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Increased testing in May coincided with a drop in the percentage of tests that were positive, a county graph shows. But testing also increased in June and coincided with an increase in the percentage of positive tests.

There has been a drop in testing in recent days as asymptomatic testing was suspended by the county health department.