Highland Park spikes on COVID-19 hot spot map

It wasn’t by chance that the Shawnee County Health Department chose Highland Park High School to host the drive-through COVID-19 testing clinics it holds each Tuesday and Thursday for uninsured Shawnee County residents, says Craig Barnes.

The 66605 ZIP Code, in which that school is located at 2424 S.E. California Ave., has seen more COVID-19 cases than any other ZIP Code in Shawnee County, said Barnes, division manager of the health department’s community health outreach and planning program.

“Understanding the breakdown of cases by ZIP Code helped inform our decision to set up our drive-through testing location at Highland Park High School in partnership with USD 501 in the 66605 ZIP Code to hopefully increase access for individuals who may be symptomatic and who may have been limited in obtaining a test previously,” Barnes said this past week.

Health department director Linda Ochs this past week shared with county commissioners a “heat” map showing which ZIP codes were the county’s hot spots for COVID-19, as of Thursday morning.

The map shows ZIP codes located within Topeka city limits have seen more COVID-19 cases than those located outside those limits.

According to that map:

• 66605, located in southeast Topeka and southeast Shawnee County, was the only ZIP Code with 41 or more cases.

• Next-worst, with between 17 and 41 cases each, were 66607 in East Topeka and eastern Shawnee County; 66614 in southwest Topeka and southwest Shawnee County; and 66604 in central and west Topeka.

• Next-worst, with 10 to 17 cases each, were 66606 in central Topeka and 66611 in south Topeka.

All other ZIP codes in Shawnee County had 10 cases or fewer, according to the health department map.

Figures posted online Saturday by the New York Times show that after having the sixth fastest recent increase in COVID-19 cases last week of any metropolitan area in the country, the Topeka metropolitan area has dropped to 148th on that list.

The Times recently called attention to Topeka as part of a feature called “Five Ways to Monitor the Coronavirus” on its website at https://tinyurl.com/y9vf2sau/.

In that feature, one of five ways the Times identified to monitor the coronavirus is by pinpointing places where outbreaks are likely to come next. It said that can be done by identifying areas that have seen the most recent significant increases in COVID-19 cases.

The Times indicated as part of that feature that Topeka as of last week was seeing a 7% recent daily increase in COVID-19 cases, which placed it sixth nationwide.

Shawnee County health officer Gianfranco Pezzino highlighted that figure in a post made last Tuesday on his personal Facebook page.

“I will not lie — this is depressing, and the health department staff is exhausted,” he wrote.

But the Topeka metropolitan area’s recent daily increase has since dropped to 2%, which puts it at 148th nationwide, according to information posted by the Times on Saturday.

Under an order issued by Pezzino, Shawnee County remains in Phase 2 of its plan for reopening facilities and activities that remain closed in Shawnee County in an effort to fight the spread of COVID-19.

Phase 2, which is scheduled to remain in effect through at least June 8, requires the continued closure of facilities and activities that include swimming pools, bars and nightclubs and gatherings of more than 15 people.

Shawnee County Commissioners Bill Riphahn, Kevin Cook and Aaron Mays plan to convene as the county’s Board of Health to discuss the county’s reopening plan Monday after they conclude their regular meeting, which will begin at 9 a.m. in their chambers in Room B-11 of the County Courthouse, 200 S.E. 7th.

Both gatherings will be open to the public, after commission meetings in recent weeks were closed in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.