COVID returns at double last year’s pace

As happened last year and the year before, Marion County is beginning to see an August surge in coronavirus cases.

Powered by new strains of the virus that causes COVID-19, this year’s surge appears to be more than twice the size of last year’s.

In the 15 days that ended Aug. 9, the most recent date for which data are available, onset of 65 new cases was confirmed in the county.

In the same period last year, only 28 new cases were.

Last year and the year before, new COVID cases continued to build as school opened and then had meteoric rises that started sometime between Halloween and New Year’s.

The new cases this year do not at present approach the previous single-day record of 92 new cases Jan. 18, but experts continue to warn that a new, serious surge may be looming.

Updated data next will be released Wednesday afternoon by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.