KC metro sees fifth day this month with triple-digit increase of new COVID-19 cases
The Kansas City metropolitan area added 115 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, marking the fifth time this month that the area has seen a triple-digit increase.
The area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas has a total of 5,236 cases.
One new death was reported, in Wyandotte County, bringing the metro’s total to 203.
Thirty-two cases were added Wednesday in Kansas City, 25 in Jackson County, 13 in Johnson County, 39 in Wyandotte County, five in Clay County and one in Platte County.
The overall positivity rate was 4.34% in Kansas City, 3.6% in Jackson County, 2.3% in Clay County, 3.9% in Johnson County and 15.7% in Wyandotte County. Platte County does not provide this figure.
Doctors at the University of Kansas Health System said they have seen more COVID-19 patients in recent days with 14 in the hospital Wednesday, up from 11 on Tuesday. Seven are in the intensive care unit.
Steve Stites, chief medical officer at the health system, said some of the cases could be traced back to Memorial Day weekend.
“We’ve long held that once society reopens and people really came in closer contact, we’d see more,” he said, adding that more data in the coming days will provide a clearer picture of what is happening.
On Wednesday, Missouri reported 15,187 cases including 537 hospitalizations and 848 deaths since the pandemic began.
Kansas said it had 10,812 cases including 954 hospitalizations and 240 deaths.
Nationwide, more than 1.9 million people have contracted the coronavirus and more than 112,000 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.
