KC metro hits record high new COVID-19 cases as virus sees resurgence across US
The Kansas City metropolitan area added a record number of new coronavirus cases Wednesday, a day after the United States hit its highest number of cases per day since April.
The metro area added a record 194 new cases Wednesday. Previously, the highest daily number of new cases was 193, less than a week ago on June 19.
Nationwide, about 34,700 cases were reported Tuesday, the third highest single-day spike since the pandemic began. More than 2.3 million people total in the U.S. have contracted the virus and more that 121,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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. Of the 975 deaths, 502 have been people age 80 or older.
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. Of the 261 deaths, 153 have been age 75 or older.
The statewide positive rate is 8%, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, with a total of 161,438 tests conducted.
‘The virus hasn’t changed.’
Nationwide, coronavirus cases are climbing rapidly among young adults in a number of states where bars, stores and restaurants have reopened – a disturbing generational shift that not only puts them in greater peril than many realize but poses an even bigger danger to older people who cross their paths.
“The virus hasn’t changed. We have changed our behaviors,” said Ali Mokdad, professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. “Younger people are more likely to be out and taking a risk.”
The virus has taken a frightful toll on the elderly in the U.S., which leads the world in total deaths, and confirmed infections. Eight out of 10 deaths in the U.S. have been in people 65 and older. In contrast, confirmed coronavirus deaths among 18-to-34-year-olds number in the hundreds, though disease trackers are clamoring for more accurate data.
For months, elderly people were more likely to be diagnosed with the virus, too. But figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that almost as soon as states began reopening, the picture flipped, with people 18 to 49 years old quickly becoming the age bracket most likely to be diagnosed with new cases.
And although every age group saw an increase in cases during the first week in June, the numbers shot up fastest among 18-to-49-year-olds. For the week ending June 7, there were 43 new cases per 100,000 people in that age bracket, compared with 28 cases per 100,000 people over 65.
In Missouri, three people age 20 to 29 and four people age 30 to 39 total have died from the virus. There were a total of 5,902 cases in the age range of 25-44 as of Wednesday.
In Kansas, two people age 25 to 34 and six people age 35 to 44 have died. In the age range of 25-44 there were 4,909 cases to date.
Steve Stites, chief medical officer at the University of Kansas Health System, said the hospital has seen a recent wave of patients and that the demographics are changing.
“Before we had an older population. Now we have a younger population that’s here,” he said. “What we are seeing more and more of are positive tests are in young people, in the 20 to 29 year old age group, and they tend to be folks who have been out together, or been at a bar or they’ve been partying.”
It’s very, very real and if anybody doesn’t think it is, please help educate them because COVID-19 is not a hoax, mask wearing is not a political crime and taking good care of your family and friends is simply the right thing to do.”
The Associated Press contributed to this reporting.
