Kansas exceeds 3,000 cases of COVID-19. Most new cases found in rural counties
Kansas saw a 10% jump in confirmed COVID-19 cases Saturday, down from 11.8% Friday, as nearly 200 cases were confirmed in rural counties centered around the meatpacking industry.
As of Saturday morning, the state had confirmed 279 additional cases of the new coronavirus and six more deaths related to the pandemic.
That brings the state to at least 3,056 cases and 117 deaths, according to data released by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment Saturday afternoon.
About 12% of the 25,199 Kansans tested for the virus were infected, according to the data.
At least 474 of the infected residents were hospitalized due to their symptoms.
Of the 279 cases identified Saturday, 190 were reported in Seward, Ford, Finney and Lyon counties.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly announced earlier in the week that additional resources would be sent to those counties in an effort to contain outbreaks related to meatpacking plants.
The counties now account for nearly a third of Kansas’ confirmed COVID-19 cases with 1,005 cases combined.
Nearly another third of cases in Kansas were in Johnson and Wyandotte counties, which have 978 cases combined.
Five more cases and two more deaths were reported Saturday in Johnson County. Thirty-five more cases and one more death were reported in Wyandotte County.
The state’s stay-at-home order is scheduled to be lifted on May 3.
The global death toll from the pandemic exceeded 200,000 Saturday, according to a database maintained by Johns Hopkins University.
The virus has infected more than 924,000 people and killed more than 52,000 nationwide.
This story was originally published April 25, 2020 at 1:26 PM.
