Sheriff of pandemic ravaged Kansas county dies of virus
Share
Tweet
December 20, 2020
QUINTER, Kan. (AP) — A sheriff in a northwestern Kansas county that has been hard-hit by the pandemic has died of the virus.
The Gove County Sheriff's Office described Sheriff Allan Weber as an "extraordinary public servant" in a Facebook post Friday announcing that he had died. He was transported to the Swedish Medical Center in Denver, Colorado, on Oct. 18 for COVID-19 respiratory complications.
The county of 2,636 has recorded 18 deaths, for a rate of about 6.82 deaths per 1,000 residents, which is the highest rate in the state. The county's emergency management director, the hospital CEO and more than 50 medical staff also tested positive.
Shortly before Weber was taken to Colorado, he spoke to a reporter with The Associated Press. Occasionally coughing, he said he had been hospitalized in the past for asthma attacks, but the coronavirus symptoms were more pronounced. "You got body aches and headaches. The tightness in my chest is different."
The county commission imposed a mask mandate starting Aug. 6, when only a handful of cases had been reported, but repealed it 11 days later. Officials subsequently issued a new mandate requiring masks.
Reader Comments(0)