The City-Cowley County Health Department is out with its latest COVID 19 update. September concluded with 592 residents contracting new cases of COVID-19. With several “end of summer” events now past we are hoping that case rates continue to decline as we prepare for the upcoming holiday months (November through January) that in 2020-21 were extremely bleak with thousands of new illnesses found. To date this year over 14,400 residents in the county have been fully vaccinated. Additionally, over 5,200 residents have taken ill and survived. Testing rates in Cowley County for COVID-19 have remained steady due to increased testing in schools. During the past week 524 tests were performed. The positivity rate for that time period was 8.4% which is down slightly from the previous week (10.05%).