Within a couple of weeks the Saline County Health Department will stop reporting COVID numbers and it will scale back its COVID efforts.

According to the agency, they will end regular reporting of “COVID by the Numbers,” March 9th. At this time the Saline County COVID dashboard will also be removed.

The agency say while its public reporting is ending, they will continue to provide COVID services as needed and as they are able.

Since the pandemic began much health department staffing, time, and resources have been diverted to combat the pandemic. They say many long-standing and valuable programs provided by the Health Department have not received the attention they merit during that time. Staff is looking forward to a renewed focus on programming and services unrelated to COVID.

The goal of public reporting was to give the public an accurate understanding of COVID in Saline county. Welcome changes like reliable at-home testing means reported data is less reflective of the overall situation. Additionally, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment has taken over all new COVID case investigations.

You can continue to find updated COVID information and data points on the websites below: