By KIRBY ROSS
Phillips County Review
PHILLIPS COUNTY — The tragedy unfolding at Logan Manor Nursing Home continues, as the incursion of COVID-19 into the facility has claimed two more lives, raising Phillips County fatalities to six.
With both deaths occurring at the nursing home, a 71-year-old female passed away on July 18, while a 90-year-old female passed away July 19.
In addition, in the past week three more cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed, raising the overall Phillips County infected count to 39 as of Monday.
According to data released by the Phillips County Health Office, one of the newly diagnosed cases is related to the Logan Manor outbreak, while a second victim is connected to an unrelated case elsewhere in Phillips County.
A third new case which has been diagnosed in the past week involves a Logan Manor staffer.
Regional spread
Elsewhere in the region, three other counties are suffering from increasing outbreaks.
The number of cases in Graham County has now risen to nine. At the beginning of the month, Graham was one of the few sites in the entire state of Kansas remaining a COVID-free sanctuary.
The outbreak there has been tied to a multi-county superspreader event at a dance where safety protocols were ignored.
In Norton County, cases have risen from four, to 10, then to 21 in a 14-day period, with a number of them tied to the Graham County dance and a daycare outbreak.
And in Ellis County, cases went from 21 at the end of June; to 30 two weeks ago; to 57 last week; and then to 90 on Monday of this week.
Of these Ellis County outbreaks, most are associated with four clusters — one such Ellis County cluster involves the Graham County dance, two clusters involve Fourth of July parties, and one is tied to travelers stopping at an Interstate 70 travel plaza east of Topeka.
Public health officials blame the four Ellis County clusters on individuals not following proper safety protocols.