Kansas City metro sees another record-breaking day for new COVID-19 cases
The Kansas City metropolitan area on Wednesday saw its sharpest daily increase yet in new COVID-19 cases, breaking the previous record set just three days ago.
The area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties on the Kansas side added 555 new cases. Four more deaths were also recorded in the metro.
The previous record for daily case increase was set Sunday, when 485 new cases were identified.
The seven-day rolling average for new cases was 398. One week ago, it was 289. On July 1, it was 204.
Doctors at the University of Kansas Health System said they were treating 35 patients for the virus, one less than on Tuesday.
Steve Stites, chief medical officer at the health system, said pandemics are difficult.
“Epidemics that go on a long time, they wear at our soul,” he said during a briefing hosted by the health system. “And then we start crying out, we start wanting to place blame. I think what we have to do is we have to realize that each other — we’re not really the enemy. The enemy is SARS-CoV-2 and what we have to do is try and be on the same team and work together to beat the enemy.”
Stites said vaccine developments “are moving pretty darn fast,” and one could be available in October or November depending on the next trial phase.
The metro now has a total of 14,962 coronavirus cases.
Kansas City added 178 cases Wednesday, Jackson County added 127, Clay County added nine, Platte County added 10, Johnson County added 159 and Wyandotte County added 72.
Of the four new deaths reported in the area, one was recorded in Kansas City, and one each in Jackson, Johnson and Wyandotte counties. The metro has had a total of 294 COVID-19 deaths.
The positive test rate was 5.38% in Kansas City, 6.32% in Jackson County, 7.63% in Clay County, 6.66% in Platte County, 6.2% in Johnson County and 17.1% in Wyandotte County.
On Wednesday, Missouri reported 36,063 cases including 1,159 deaths. The positive test rate was 5.8%.
Kansas confirmed 24,104 cases including 308 deaths. The positive test rate was 9%.
Across the country, there have been more than 3.9 million coronavirus cases including more than 142,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
