Kansas City metro adds 49 COVID-19 cases, surpassing 2,600 total cases
The Kansas City metropolitan area reported 49 additional cases of the coronavirus Wednesday and no new deaths.
The area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas has confirmed 2,618 cases.
Nearly half of Wednesday’s new cases — 23 — were in Kansas City, which has a total of 706.
On Monday, 123 new cases were added in the metro’s numbers and 62 were reported Tuesday.
Wyandotte County has the most COVID-19 cases with 910.
However because of testing challenges locally and nationally, the number of cases remains underreported.
“We think there’s at least 10 times the cases of COVID out there than what we’ve detected,” Allen Greiner, medical officer for the Unified Government, said during a University of Kansas Health System briefing. “It probably is even more than that.”
Throughout the metro, 139 people have died.
Parts of the area including Clay and Platte counties began reopening on Monday.
“We expect more COVID-19 illness to be in the hospital, we expect more coronavirus to be infecting other people. That’s part of the price we pay to open up our society,” said Steve Stites, chief medical officer with the University of Kansas Health System.
Businesses in Kansas City previously deemed nonessential — from craft and clothing stores to advertising agencies — were allowed to resume in-person operations Wednesday. Further restrictions will be lifted May 15.
Jackson, Johnson and Wyandotte counties will reopen May 11.
In Kansas, 5,734 cases have been reported, an increase of 276 cases. The state has had 144 deaths. Missouri has confirmed 9,102 cases, an increase of 186 cases. It has had 396 deaths.
Nationwide, 1.2 million people have contracted the virus and nearly 72,000 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.
This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 3:22 PM.
