Kansas City metro adds nearly 400 new COVID-19 cases and three more deaths Wednesday
The Kansas City metropolitan area added nearly 400 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday and three more deaths were reported.
The area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas added 392 new cases for a total of 21,280.
The seven-day rolling average for new cases — at 407 on Wednesday — has declined in the past week. One week ago, it was 496.
However the positive test rates have continued to edge up.
On Wednesday, the positive test rate was 5.12% in Kansas City, 7.63% in Jackson County, 7.93% in Clay County, 8.02% in Platte County, 6.8% in Johnson County and 17.7% in Wyandotte County.
On July 20, the positive test rate in Kansas City was 4.74%, 6.04% in Jackson County, 7.78% in Clay County, 6.24% in Platte County, 6.1% in Johnson County and 17.1% in Wyandotte County.
Of the three deaths reported Wednesday, two were in Kansas City and one was in Platte County, raising the metro’s total to 333.
During a daily briefing, Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control at the University of Kansas Health System, urged people to wear masks and practice social distancing.
“We’re not in a post-COVID world, we are in a COVID world right now,” he said. “We all want to get back to doing the things that we want to do — meeting with friends, book clubs, not having to be outside but indoors, going to stadiums, seeing those things — so please everybody, wear your masks and social distance.”
On Wednesday, Missouri reported 55,321 cases including 1,273 deaths. The seven-day positive test rate was 11%. The overall positive test rate was 7.3%.
Kansas confirmed 29,717 cases including 368 deaths. The overall positive test rate was 9.6%.
Across the U.S., more than 4.7 million people have contracted the virus and 157,416 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.
This story was originally published August 5, 2020 at 2:58 PM.
