Kansas has 13th-fewest restrictions and 13th-fastest coronavirus spread, studies find
The top doctor in Kansas government seemed to suggest there may be a connection between the state having relatively few restrictions to slow the coronavirus pandemic and the fast spread of the virus and its disease here.
“Sad. Kansas in now, as of today, in the top 14 states for the MOST rapid COVID-19 spread and in the top 14 states for having the LEAST restrictions on activities,” said Lee Norman, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment secretary, in a tweet on Tuesday.
“Do you think those two things are related? We were a shining example of success, only to squander it.”
Norman did not cite the sources — or by what measure he considered Kansas to be a success and at what point it no longer was. But a pair of studies reported on Tuesday listed Kansas as the state with the 13th fewest pandemic restrictions and the 13th fastest spread of coronavirus.
The Becker’s Hospital Review, which Norman has previously cited on Twitter, reported that Kansas was tied for 13th for states with the fastest spread of COVID-19. The determination came from rt.live, a website with calculations on the average number of people who become sick from an infectious person.
WalletHub on Tuesday released a ranking of states with the fewest coronavirus restrictions. Kansas came in at No. 13.
There were four other states in the top 14 of both lists. The others were Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Wyoming — all of which were in the top five of both lists — and Idaho.
Missouri was listed as the 11th least-restrictive state and Nebraska was ninth. Neither were on the list of the 14 states with the fastest spread.
The studies come after Kansas experienced its worst two-week period of the pandemic, during which Sedgwick County saw an explosion in cases.
The KDHE reported 16,901 cases of COVID-19 on Monday, a statewide increase of 6.2% over the weekend. Wyandotte County had a percentage change lower than the state while Johnson and Sedgwick counties had greater increases.
Wyandotte County had 2,655 cases, a weekend increase of 3.8%. Johnson County had 2,349 cases, an increase of 13.7%. Sedgwick County had 1,750 cases, an increase of 11.9%.
The public health officer in Sedgwick County has said the continued increase in cases is not due to an increase in testing.
“I can’t give you a scientific reason why the case load is going up so much, but we can verify it’s not due to more testing,” Garold Minns said last week. “Our testing numbers have been pretty stable, so the percentage of positives is going up.”
The county health department’s COVID-19 dashboard shows several pandemic indicators have worsened in the six weeks since the state and local economies reopened without restrictions on May 26 and May 27.
Active cases saw a 608% increase from 121 on May 27 to 857 on Tuesday. The positive testing percentage had a more than eightfold increase from less than 1% to 8.7% on Monday. New hospital admissions per week have tripled while discharges saw a slight decrease.
Gov. Laura Kelly issued an executive order last week mandating the use of face masks while in public for most people. Sedgwick County commissioners rescinded the order for the county, but the Wichita City Council issued its own ordinance requiring masks in the state’s largest city.
This story was originally published July 7, 2020 at 9:01 PM with the headline "Kansas has 13th-fewest restrictions and 13th-fastest coronavirus spread, studies find."