COVID-19 news: Missouri reports 6th virus death, more fall ill in Kansas City region
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly listed the Missouri counties where coronavirus deaths have been reported. No such deaths have been reported in Henry County.
As the new coronavirus continued to spread, killing 600 people in the U.S. as of Tuesday, more counties in the Kansas City region reported confirmed cases and Missouri recorded its sixth virus-related death.
Health officials in Johnson County, where only residents who are hospitalized with symptoms are being tested, said three dozen people have now tested positive for COVID-19. That includes patients who range in age from younger than 19 to older than 80 as well as a retired school superintendent who died Saturday.
One of the Johnson County cases was originally reported in Jackson County, health officials said Tuesday.
There were also five new cases in Wyandotte County, bringing the total there to 21, including a 70-year-old man who died.
Wyandotte and Johnson counties account for more than half of Kansas’ 92 presumed positive cases of the rapidly spreading virus. The state has recorded two deaths.
More cases are expected to be found as more people are tested for the virus.
Numerous jurisdictions in the Kansas City region fell quiet Tuesday as orders went into effect requiring residents to remain at home except for activities considered essential to their health and safety. Cautionary police tape and signs went up around some playgrounds in the region, alerting residents they were closed until further notice.
Many people worked from home. Businesses went dark.
In Missouri, officials have confirmed at least 182 cases, including a second patient reported Tuesday in Platte County.
The state’s sixth death, reported Monday by health officials in St. Charles County, was a man in his 70s, who had been hospitalized.
Also Monday, in Springfield, Greene County officials reported that a woman in her 80s had died from the virus. She was among four people to test positive for the disease over the weekend from the Morningside of Springfield East assisted-living facility in Springfield, according to the health department there.
Springfield Mayor Ken McClure extended the city’s condolences to the woman’s loved ones.
“We are thinking of you and wishing you peace during this very difficult time,” McClure said. “Please know that our hearts are with you.”
Springfield and Greene County were expected to announce stricter stay at home orders Tuesday, said Cora Scott, Springfield’s director of public information and civic engagement.
There were 17 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Monday in Greene County. Officials believe there is community spread there.
St. Louis city recorded its first COVID-19 death: A woman in her 30s. Other deaths in Missouri have been reported in Jackson, Boone and St. Louis counties.
“It is crucial,” St. Louis County Executive Steve Ehlmann said, “that we all do everything we can to stop the spread of this disease.”
On Monday, Missouri officials announced loosened guidelines for who can be tested, saying doctors should use their judgment to determine if a person has COVID-19 symptoms and if they should be tested.
“We are very much responding to the request from clinicians and our first responders about their need to make rapid diagnoses in certain cases,” Dr. Randall Williams, director of the state’s Department of Health and Senior Services, said in a statement.
With several health care centers and systems operating mobile testing sites, the state now lists 28 places offering testing.
Missouri has received some personal protective equipment for free from the national strategic stockpile but also is spending about $20 million of state funds on supplies needed by health care workers and emergency responders, officials said.
Also Monday, District Attorney Mark Dupree in Wyandotte County, Kansas, assured the community that people will not be arrested based on immigration status amid the outbreak. He has heard undocumented residents were afraid to seek medical attention.
“This is to dispel those concerns,” he said in a letter Monday. “We are in this thing together.”
Nationwide, there were more than 46,000 confirmed cases and 600 deaths as of Tuesday morning, at least 125 of which were in New York City, according to a database maintained by Johns Hopkins University. In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the infection rate there was doubling every three days.
Worldwide, there were more than 390,000 cases and 17,200 deaths.
As the federal government tries to ramp up screening nationwide, laboratory workers are warning of a new roadblock: dire shortages of testing supplies. The shortages are the latest stumble in a botched effort to track the virus.
“The only way to get through it without testing is to keep the entire country quarantined for the next 18 months,” Dr. Ashish Jha, a Harvard University global health professor, told the Associated Press. “That obviously is untenable.”
The Associated Press and Star reporters Katie Bernard and Robert A. Cronkelton contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 24, 2020 at 12:56 PM.
