COVID-19 news: Outbreak at KC senior home prompts questions about reopening
A cluster of at least 11 coronavirus cases at a nursing facility in the Northland has Kansas City officials reconsidering whether to allow restaurants, bars and other large facilities to reopen next week.
Mayor Quinton Lucas said public health officials are awaiting full testing results from McCrite Plaza at Briarcliff, home to 80 residents.
Between this coronavirus outbreak and one at a St. Joseph food plant that has infected more than 400 people, Lucas said the city fears “that there might be another outbreak that is growing.”
At a news conference, Kansas City Health Department Director Rex Archer said he thought the city had “more cases this week than we’ve had any other week since this outbreak started.”
Kansas City has reported 723 positive cases. Since Sunday, the city has seen 114 new COVID-19 cases.
Given the situation, Lucas said he was no longer sure Kansas City would proceed with the next phase of its reopening, scheduled for May 15. He said the Health Department had planned to issue guidance Friday on the reopening of restaurants, bars, gyms, museums, the Kansas City Zoo, city-maintained playgrounds and government buildings. But because of the outbreak, it’s unclear whether those businesses can reopen as scheduled.
Warning letters
The Federal Trade Commission in recent weeks has sent letters to three businesses in the Kansas City area demanding that they stop promoting unsubstantiated treatments for the coronavirus.
The FTC instructed the following businesses to quit promoting purported coronavirus treatment products:
▪ The Epigenics Healing Center, 406 W. 109th St., Overland Park;
▪ The McDonagh Medical Center, 2800 N.E. Kendallwood Pkwy., Gladstone;
▪ Revive & Rally Health Lounge, 1729 Walnut St., Kansas City.
The businesses endorsed treatments such as vitamin C infusions or ultraviolet light.
More test kits
Missouri will receive a “huge store” of testing kits from the White House, state health director Dr. Randall Williams said.
The shipment would consist of 200,000 swabs and 150,000 viral transport media tubes.
Expanding testing has been one of Gov. Mike Parson’s core pillars for his plan to reopen the state. Currently, Williams says Missouri has a testing capacity of 60,000 tests per week.
That capacity isn’t being met. According to state data compiled by the COVID tracking project, the state has performed a total of 103,622 tests. Last week, Missouri performed 15,526 tests.
Some hospitals, however, say they don’t have the equipment to meet that testing capacity.
Missouri has reported 9,341 cases, including 417 deaths. A total of 108,721 have been tested.
Kansas has confirmed 6,144 cases, including 147 deaths. Another 38,678 tests have been negative.
Reporters Allison Kite, Steve Vockrodt and Caitlyn Rosen contributed to this story.
