Kansas sees largest daily jump in coronavirus cases as backlog comes in from lab
The number of people testing positive for the coronavirus in Kansas jumped by 186 in the past 24 hours, as a backlog of reports was delivered from a private lab.
Three more COVID-19 deaths were reported, bringing the state total to 110.
The increase in positive cases brought the state total to 2,211, according to statistics released Wednesday afternoon by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
It was the largest single-day increase the state has seen so far. Previously, the highest single-day jump was 148 new cases on April 8.
State health officials said the significant increase was “due to KDHE not receiving lab reports from a private lab, which affected Lyon County numbers, along with several other counties.” Lyon County, where the county seat is Emporia, is southwest of Kansas City.
The state also expects to see an increase in the next several days for areas in western Kansas due to new testing strategies that have been implemented, according to health officials. There might be delays with those county numbers being reflected in the state’s total because of the additional time it takes to enter lab reports.
Kansas and federal health officials are working to contain outbreaks that threaten the state’s meatpacking industry, which account for roughly 20 to 30% of the nation’s beef processing capacity.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Sunday night announced that the state was working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to “test and contain recent clusters of positive coronavirus cases in Kansas counties centered around food and meat processing plants.” Some two dozen employees at an Emporia plant are reported to have tested positive.
The federal government has provided Kansas with additional personal protective equipment and supplies to expand COVID-19 testing in three southwest counties — Ford, Finney and Seward — and one eastern county, Lyon, which includes Emporia. The counties all house meat or food processing plants.
Of 1,816 cases where the state knew whether or not a person had been hospitalized, there have been 432 people hospitalized. That comes to about 24 percent of the cases where hospitalization status was known, according to state health officials.
Kansas has tested 20,203 people, with 17,992 tests returning negative.
Meanwhile, Missouri reported that 6,137 people have tested positive for the coronavirus, up 196 cases in the past 24 hours. An additional 19 people have died in the past 24 hours, raising the total COVID-19 deaths to 208.
As of Tuesday, the state has conducted 57, 960 tests.
