Update, Jan. 15, 2023:

Earlier this month, Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health made changes to the way it reports the latest COVID-19 numbers. (You can read more about the changes in this article from Jan. 3.)

After much deliberation and reflection on the current COVID situation and what the data source changes would mean, we have decided to discontinue updates to most of this dashboard.

Much (though not all) of the data we’ve kept on this dashboard is still available in one form or another. However, the different sources for the data use slightly different metrics and frequencies of reporting, and it would require us to start from scratch on our charts in order to continue updating them. In addition, with an increase in home testing, it’s likely that case numbers don’t fully reflect the status in the community.

We’ve provided links below where you’ll be able to find the latest numbers.

We deeply appreciate the community’s support of this dashboard since we created it in July 2021. We know not very many people will even see this update, and we hope it’s not too disappointing to those who do. But we’re still a tiny staff, and we think our limited time and resources will best serve this community if we use them in other ways going forward.

Should the need arise, we can always change course again, and we have no intention of getting rid of this page — older data will still be available here.

Thank you, and be well!

— Mackenzie Clark, Lawrence Times reporter/founder/COVID-19 stat dashboardkeeper ❤️

How to find current stats

Last updated Jan. 15, 2023:

Emergency room tracking: Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health is now using a “leading” indicator: syndromic surveillance, “which is a fancy term that refers to ER visits,” spokesperson Daniel Smith said. The numbers show folks who are positive for COVID at the ER. “This is a much smaller sample that won’t reflect overall COVID levels but might allude to rising rates throughout the community,” Smith said.

Visit this link to see the latest stats from LDCPH. Visit this link to sign up for LDCPH’s email updates.

Wastewater monitoring: The city of Lawrence has joined a nationwide effort to monitor wastewater for COVID-19, “which many see as an extremely useful tool for anticipating case counts and transmission rates,” Smith said. Read more about the effort here. You can view the COVID-19 wastewater chart at this link.

Lawrence Public Schools: The district is listing reported COVID-19 cases for the 2022-23 school year at this link.

New COVID-19 cases in Douglas County: The Kansas State Department of Health and Environment receives data on new positive COVID tests and more. The data does not include at-home tests and might not reflect the full scope of current cases.

Visit this link and scroll down to see a chart of the rolling seven-day average number of new cases statewide. A dropdown menu on the chart will allow you to limit the scope to Douglas County cases.

Hospitalizations at LMH Health

Click here to see a larger version.

More resources

Latest articles we’ve posted tagged COVID-19:

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Retired charts

Original intro, published July 29, 2021:

These charts were created with the latest COVID-19 data from Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, LMH Health, Lawrence Public Schools and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. They’ll show the latest data whenever we update them, regardless of whether we publish a new article.

The charts are interactive, so you can show and hide parts of the data to get a better sense of what various pieces mean, in some cases, or tap on a data point to see more numbers. Some of them appear a little funky on mobile devices; there are links below the charts to view them on a full page of their own, and turning your phone sideways may help to see them better, too.

New and active cases

Click here for a larger version/better mobile view.

Click here for a larger version/better mobile view.

Vaccination status and hospitalizations

Find out where and when you can get the vaccine or a booster shot at this link.
It’s free, and you don’t need insurance.

Test positivity

Click here for a larger version/better mobile view.

Click here for a larger version/better mobile view.

COVID-19 cases reported in Lawrence Public Schools

The district will list COVID-19 cases for the 2022-23 school year at this link.

Click here for a larger version/better mobile view.

Click here to visit the full, searchable database in a new window.

Click here to visit the full, searchable database in a new window. Here’s why this chart is no longer being updated as of February 2022.

Wastewater COVID detection

Update, Aug. 17, 2022: The city of Lawrence has joined a nationwide effort to monitor wastewater for COVID-19 and monkeypox. Read more about the effort here.

You can view the monkeypox chart at this link, and the COVID chart at this link.

Click here for a larger version/better mobile view. Click here for an explanation of what this chart means. Here’s why this chart is no longer being updated as of July 2022.

Click here for a larger version/better mobile view.

Note: The Kansas Department of Health and Environment performs genetic testing to sequence the variants of a tiny sample — generally about 1% to 2% — of all positive COVID-19 tests statewide. Numbers shown here are variants that KDHE has confirmed through testing of Douglas County samples throughout the pandemic. The pie charts grow in size proportionate to the number of samples sequenced; the charts over time show how different variants have spread.

Here’s why this chart is no longer being updated.

Click here to see a larger version. Here’s why this chart hasn’t been updated.

Latest Lawrence news:

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