Kansas City metro sees record high new COVID-19 cases with nearly 200 added Wednesday
The Kansas City metropolitan area added a record 194 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.
Previously, the highest daily number of new cases was 193, less than a week ago on June 19.
The area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas has a total of 6,946 coronavirus cases.
Kansas City had 43 of Wednesday’s new cases, Jackson County had 22, Clay County had eight, Platte County had five, Johnson County had 53 and Wyandotte County had 63.
The seven-day average for new cases is 142. On June 1, it was at 69.
The rise in new cases is in part due to increased testing, said Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control at the University of Kansas Health System.
But the percentage of positive cases is also increasing, he said.
“Even though we’re doing more testing, the actual percentage — the number of people that we’re getting positive — has certainly increased from say where it was two months ago or six or eight weeks ago, just because we know the virus out there, it’s spreading,” Hawkinson said during a daily briefing hosted by the health system.
The positive test rate was 5.63% in Kansas City, 5.08% in Jackson County, 3.2% in Clay County, 4% in Johnson County and 15.3% in Wyandotte County. Platte County does not provide this figure.
On June 4, the positive rates were 4.01% in Kansas City, 3.96% in Jackson County, 2.11% in Clay County, 4% in Johnson County and 15.9% in Wyandotte County.
No new deaths were reported Wednesday in the metro. The area has had a total of 225 deaths.
Missouri reported 18,868 cases including 592 patients hospitalized on Wednesday and 975 deaths.
The statewide positive test rate is 5.6%, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, with a total of 327,024 tests administered.
Kansas confirmed 12,970 cases including a total of 1,082 hospitalizations and 261 deaths.
The statewide positive rate is 8%, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, with a total of 161,438 tests conducted.
Nationwide, more than 2.3 million people have contracted the virus and more that 121,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.
This story was originally published June 24, 2020 at 3:25 PM.
