Kansas labeled a coronavirus ‘red zone’ as cases spike, White House document says
A White House document labels Kansas a “red zone” for surging coronavirus cases and says the rate of new cases rose 150 percent from the previous week.
The death rate rose 30 percent over the same time.
Kansas, along with 17 other states, is listed as a red zone in the report, dated Tuesday. It shows the percentage of COVID-19 tests that come back positive rising 1.2 percent over the previous week, to a rate of 8.7 percent.
Kansas’ soaring case numbers aren’t new, and Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly along with her top health officials have been sounding the alarm for weeks. But the document underscores that the spread of COVID-19 in the state has caught the attention of President Donald Trump’s administration.
The Center for Public Integrity, a non-profit investigative journalism newsroom, published the document on Thursday.
A White House official told McClatchy that the administration’s task force is recommending that states listed in “red zones” begin implementing more stringent protective measures.
“Dr. Birx and some other members of the task force put together that document,” a White House official confirmed, referring to Deborah Birx, coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force. “There are measures that they can take to help slow the spread. I think what the task force and the administration has been consistent in saying is that we don’t have plans to shut down the economy again.”
The disclosure comes as Kansas continues to report new caseloads that match numbers last seen during the state’s previous peak, in April. Health officials reported 875 new cases and 11 deaths between Monday and Wednesday.
Kansas recorded 125 new cases per 100,000 people in the past week, compared to the national average of 119 per 100,000, according to the White House document.
“We have fumbled the ball, people, and that’s the bottom line,” Lee Norman, the Kansas health officer, said Wednesday.
A graph in the report shows that mobility in Kansas has climbed back to roughly 80 percent of its normal level after sharply falling in March – a sign that residents are not limiting trips and travel at nearly the same rate as they did in the pandemic’s early period.
The report recommends closing bars in counties where the percentage of positive tests is rising, as well as increasing outdoor dining and decreasing indoor dining in those counties. Social gatherings should be limited to 10 or fewer people.
Anyone who participated in “multi-household July 4th activities” should be immediately tested, the report recommends.
“Mass gatherings are evil. I don’t care what kind of mass gatherings they are, they’re just inherently evil,” Norman said.
Masks should also be mandated in counties with a rising percentage of positive tests, the document said. Ten counties are listed in the “red zone” – meaning they reported new cases above 100 per 100,000 population and test positivity above 10 percent last week.
The counties included: Sedgwick, Shawnee, Douglas, Riley, Saline Seward, Haskell, Norton, Ellsworth and Stanton. At least four of the counties are requiring masks.
The document recommends that in red zone counties, the public be told to limit social gatherings to 10, to not frequent bars, nightclubs and gyms and to reduce public interaction and activities to 25 percent of normal.
Kansas has had no statewide coronavirus limits – except for a mask order – since the end of May. Under a new state law, counties have the power to overrule most statewide limits and many have chosen to not impose any rules. The majority of counties also overrode the mask order.
On Wednesday, Kelly announced she plans to order school districts to delay their reopening until after Labor Day to give educators more time to prepare COVID-19 precautions.
“Unfortunately, the moment cases started trending down, we saw a rise in politics,” Kelly said.
The State Board of Education will have to approve the delay. In a joint statement from House Republican leaders, Speaker Ron Ryckman, Majority Leader Dan Hawkins and Speaker Pro Tem Blaine Finch said that while safety must come first, the education, socialization and other services students receive at school are also vital.
“They will have final say next week,” they said of the state board of education. “We encourage all Kansans to contact the members of the State Board of Education with your views on when schools should open.”
McClatchy DC’s Michael Wilner contributed reporting
This story was originally published July 16, 2020 at 4:59 PM with the headline "Kansas labeled a coronavirus ‘red zone’ as cases spike, White House document says."