Gatherings in Kansas have led to 54 outbreaks. KDHE expects uptick after Labor Day
More than a quarter of Kansas’ 28,876 COVID-19 cases have been linked to cluster sites and experts said more are expected as a result of potential Labor Day gatherings.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment identified 360 outbreaks which have infected 7,710 people. The outbreaks’ 243 deaths make up 67% of the state’s 365 deaths.
The state’s clusters include 132 at private businesses, 95 at long-term care facilities and 54 from gatherings.
The number of active clusters sits at 138. That’s 20 more than there were three weeks ago. An active cluster is considered closed “28 days from last symptom onset,” said Kristi Zears, spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Looking ahead to Labor Day, KDHE secretary Lee Norman said Tuesday in a University of Kansas Health Center media briefing that he expects to see a rise in cases linked to gatherings. But don’t expect to see cases reported right away.
“Anything that drives gatherings of people has had a demonstrable increase, usually four to seven days after the gatherings or the gathering weekend is when the cases start materializing,” Norman said. “The data entry lags just a little bit because it takes some time for people to get tested and then results to come back, so we’ve been seeing kind of an uptick in 10 to 14 days.”
“I absolutely predict that people will drop their guard again and we’ll see an uptick. It will be very unfortunate timing if it puts the next peak at the time when people are entering school.”
Of the outbreaks resulting from gatherings, 31 were private events, 12 were religious gatherings, 10 were at bars or restaurants and one was at a camp, according to data kept by the state health department.
Nursing facilities account for most of the deaths related to clusters with 193 of the 243.
Other major drivers of outbreaks include meat packing facilities and state prisons. More than 3,200 cases were found at meat packing plants across the state and 17 people have died as a result.
A large outbreak at Lansing Correctional Facility infected 850 residents and 96 staff. It was considered contained as of June 10. Cases among residents have been found at seven of the state’s 10 facilities.
Clusters have also been confirmed from daycare, schools and sports.
KDHE does not typically disclose cluster locations, leaving that to the discretion of local health departments.
More than 30 clusters have been identified by the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas. That includes six cases at Nebraska Furniture Mart, 22 cases at an Amazon facility and 57 cases from a church conference.
While the earlier phase of the pandemic hit long-term care facilities particularly hard, a rising number of cases in many parts of the country have been attributed to Fourth of July gatherings, graduation parties and crowded bars, the Associated Press reported.
Across the U.S., more than 4.7 million people have contracted the coronavirus and more than 156,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. Both the number of infections and deaths are easily the highest in the world, the Associated Press said.
This story was originally published August 5, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
