COVID-19 news: New cases reported in Johnson, Wyandotte counties; Church service held
A combined total of 14 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus was reported Monday in Wyandotte and Johnson counties in Kansas, according to local health officials.
In addition to its five new cases, Wyandotte County reported one more death related to complications from COVID-19. That brings the county’s total of people who have died from the disease to 38, according county health department data posted Monday morning.
A total of 417 people in Wyandotte County have tested positive for the disease as of Sunday, according to data collected by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
The county continues to see the highest number of positive in the state. It also has the state’s largest outbreak of COVID-19 at Riverbend Post Acute Rehabilitation Center in Kannsas City, Kansas, where at least 19 residents have died. The number of confirmed cases linked to the facility as of Thursday was 116.
Another 44 cases and five deaths has been liked to a ministers’ conference held mid-March in Kansas City, Kansas, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Meanwhile in neighboring Johnson County, the number of confirmed cases increased by nine in the past 24 hours, raising the county’s total to 376. The number of people who died from COVID-19 complications remained at 30.
In Kansas 1,849 have tested positive and 92 have died from the coronavirus, according to the latest statistics, updated by the Kansas Department of Health and the Environment. At least 390 people have been admitted to hospitals.
In-person church services continue in Lawrence
Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, in-person service was held Sunday at Heritage Baptist Church in Lawrence.
The Rev. Scott Hanks said the Sunday service didn’t look much different from the church’s Easter services held the week before except more people showed up Sunday.
The church was among at least three in Kansas to continue holding in-person services as a legal battle continues over whether churches should be excluded from Gov. Laura Kelly’s executive order limiting mass gatherings to 10 or fewer people.
A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order over the weekend against part of Kelly’s executive order, paving the way for in-person religious services without violating the law.
Hanks declined to say exactly how many people attended Sunday, but it was “absolutely” more than 10 people and that he “definitely had a good crowd.”
Kansas receives additional supplies; expands testing
Kelly announced over the weekend that Kansas has received additional supplies and personal protective equipment to expand COVID-19 Finney, Ford, Lyon and Seward counties, according to a press release Sunday.
“I want to thank our federal partners for their ongoing efforts to help our state response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Kelly said. “I particularly appreciate the assistance from Senator Pat Roberts and Senator Jerry Moran.”
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment is working with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention to test and contain recent clusters of confirmed coronavirus cases in counties centered around food and meat processing plants.
A story in The Star last week found that Kansas ranks nearly last in testing its residents.
In an interview with The Star and The Wichita Eagle, Kelly said the state hadn’t received the testing supplies it needed. Every state, and some local governments were competing for the same materials, she said.
Her requests to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for supplies — including testing materials — have effectively gone unfulfilled, she said.
“We don’t have the purchasing clout that we need to be able to outbid all the folks we’re competing with and then we don’t have the urgency to get from FEMA what we need,” Kelly said.
Kansas received its allocation of the Strategic National Stockpile in late March. The personal protection equipment was distributed to counties based on their population.
Kansas professors help with COVID-19 tests
Two University of Kansas professors — Robert DeLong and Mark Haub — are helping the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s lab in Topeka test the growing number of samples for COVID-19.
“This is unprecedented,” DeLong said. “I felt very much called to do something like this. I felt obligated not just professionally, but morally.”
DeLong and Haub say they are humbled by the speed and volume of samples fellow scientists process daily from hospitals and clinics around the state. Hundreds of tests marked positive were found by lab workers in Topeka.
“I’m happy to be able to help,” Haub said. “The people there are in the lab working 24/7. We are just coming in and filling in the gap so they can have some time off to spend with family.”
The Star’s Jason Hancock and Anna Spoerre and The Wichita Eagle’s Jonathan Shorman contributed
