Kansas reports 50 new coronavirus cases, putting total at 1,426, with seven new deaths
Fifty new positive cases and seven new deaths of the new coronavirus in Kansas were reported by state health officials on Monday.
At least 1,426 cases and 69 deaths have been counted across the state, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The number of positive cases has increased by 3.6% since Monday’s total of 1,376. Sixty-two deaths were reported on Monday.
There have been 327 people hospitalized, up by 18 from Monday.
People are testing positive at a rate of about 10% in Kansas of the 14,147 total tests.
Numbers released by the state also show that people of color continue to be hit disproportionately by the coronavirus pandemic.
Black people account for a rate of 108.7 per 100,000 compared to white people, with a rate of 30.9 per 100,000. The black population has also reported higher death rates at 11 per 100,000 compared to 1.2 for whites.
Hispanics and Latinos have a rate of 42.2 per 100,000 of cases and a death rate of 2.1.
About a quarter of cases do not report race or ethnicity data.
The numbers match national trends that show minorities are being impacted disproportionately.
Kansas City on Monday released the number of cases broken down by ZIP codes.
“What we’re seeing is just a representation of the inequality that we have in our community, I think, evidencing itself in this situation,” Mayor Quinton Lucas told The Star last week.
ZIP codes including 64127, 64120 and 64132 are among the regions that have the most confirmed cases of COVID-19.
“At anytime of an epidemic or a crisis,” Lucas said, “it usually disproportionately impacts those who have always suffered from inequality in connection with how we provide our healthcare, how we provide our economic care and I think we’re seeing it in this situation as well.”
Wyandotte County continues to have the largest number of reported cases. It saw its first COVID-19 related death about a month ago and reported eight new cases on Tuesday, bringing the total to 345.
As of Sunday, at least a dozen of the county’s deaths were connected to the Riverbend Post Acute Rehabilitation Center, the state’s largest outbreak of COVID-19, where 90 residents and 20 staff members have tested positive.
In Johnson County, which has recorded the second highest number of cases, officials reported 323 cases, up from 309 Monday.
Sedgwick County reported five new cases, bringing the total to 205.
