Health officials in southeast Kansas are urging residents to get vaccines against COVID-19 as the delta variant spreads across the region.

Over the past two weeks, 18% of COVID-19 tests in Crawford County have been positive, a sign of increasing community spread and inadequate testing.  In Cherokee County, the positivity rate is 27%. In its latest report, Wilson County saw a rise in cases by 25 since its previous report two weeks ago while Neosho Count was up by nine.

The Delta variant is currently the dominant strain in Kansas with 289 confirmed cases.