Kansas City metro surpasses 1,800 coronavirus cases as four more deaths reported
Sixty-eight new cases of the coronavirus were identified Friday in the Kansas City metropolitan area, where four more deaths were recorded.
A total of 1,802 cases have been confirmed in Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties on the Kansas side.
The number of new cases increased this week by 22 on Monday, 41 on Tuesday, 69 on Wednesday and 43 on Thursday.
Wyandotte County has the most cases with 520, including 49 deaths, up from 47.
Jackson and Johnson County each had one more death. The total for the metro stands at 110.
Stay-at-home orders will begin to expire in May.
Clay County and North Kansas City said their restrictions will end at 11:59 p.m. May 3.
The statewide order covering Johnson and Wyandotte counties also expires May 3.
The orders in Kansas City, Jackson and Platte counties will cease May 15.
Experts at the University of Kansas Health System said more testing and social distancing will be key to preventing outbreaks.
“We know that social distancing has worked,” said Steve Stites, chief medical officer at the health system. “As we open up, while testing is critically important, personal, social responsibility has never been more important.”
On Friday, Kansas reported 2,777 COVID-19 cases and Missouri reported 6,625 cases.
Kansas reported 295 cases, a record single-day increase for the third straight day. The increase follows a trend in the state spurred by the clearing of a backlog of private lab cases and increased testing in rural counties where federal and state authorities suspected clusters of positive cases connected to the meatpacking industry.
The state saw an increase of 186 cases Wednesday and 271 Thursday. Of the 295 new cases confirmed in Kansas, 210 were reported in Lyon, Ford, Finney and Seward counties.
Missouri reported 44 more deaths from the new coronavirus Friday, a 20% increase. There was a delay in death reporting from a jurisdiction in the state, meaning the 44 deaths reported Friday could have occurred between April 12-22.
According to data released Friday afternoon by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, there were 304 new cases, about a 4.8% increase. That data, however, represents new cases from a range of dates because of technical difficulties.
The Star’s Katie Bernard contributed reporting
