COVID-19 deaths in KC rose by 60% in late July and early August: health department
Two-week trends in Kansas City show COVID-19 deaths jumped by 60% starting in late July.
Twenty-four deaths were reported from July 22 to Aug. 5, according to Rex Archer, director of the Kansas City Health Department.
From July 8 to 22, 15 deaths had been reported.
“Our deaths have been very significantly increasing,” Archer said Friday.
The number of new cases and hospitalizations also rose, according to data provided by Archer.
From July 8 to 22, there were 696 new cases and 36 hospitalizations. That rose to 897 new cases and 44 hospitalizations from July 22 to Aug. 5.
According to data from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, the seven-day rolling average for new cases in Kansas City has been decreasing since July 28 when it sat at a peak of 191.
As of Friday, 4,042 coronavirus cases, including 74 deaths, had been confirmed by the KC health department.
The average number of new cases is also dropping across the Kansas City metropolitan area. The area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas added 395 new cases Friday for a total of 22,071.
The metro area added 324 cases Monday, 407 on Tuesday, 392 on Wednesday and 396 on Thursday.
The seven-day average for new cases is 361. One week ago, it was 497. Two weeks ago, it was 438.
Four deaths were reported Friday in the metro, including three in Kansas City and one in Jackson County, raising the area’s total to 344.
