KC metro adds 301 new coronavirus cases as hospital sees patient numbers spike
The Kansas City metropolitan area added more than 300 new cases Tuesday as the University of Kansas Health System reported a spike in COVID-19 patients.
The area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas added 301 new cases for a total of 23,305.
The overall positive test rate was 5.36% in Kansas City, 7.93% in Jackson County, 7.98% in Clay County, 8.08% in Platte County, 7.1% in Johnson County and 17.9% in Wyandotte County.
The seven-day rolling average for new cases was 345. One week ago, it was 438. Two weeks ago, it was 488.
Four deaths were reported Tuesday, raising the metro’s total to 351. Two were in Johnson County, one was in Wyandotte County and one was in Kansas City.
Doctors at the University of Kansas Health System said they are treating 39 patients for the virus, up eight from Monday.
“That’s our high,” said Steve Stites, chief medical officer at the health system.
Patients vary in age from 18 to 99.
“There is a range, it’s every decade and it’s even the young,” said Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control.
Eleven patients are in the intensive care unit and eight of those, ranging in age from 30 to 72, are on ventilators.
“We have seen the infections continue to rise,” Hawkinson said. “We have always said that hospitalizations follow that, whether it’s two or three weeks, we are starting to see that now. We are seeing the infections here in our hospital rise. Hopefully there can be a stop to that. But we need to continue to endorse and get out the message of masking, social distancing, not going out if you’re ill and hand washing so that we can stop the amount of illness, hospitalizations and death because we need to turn that corner now.”
On Tuesday, Missouri identified 60,935 cases, including 1,312 deaths. The seven-day positive test rate was 11.6% while the overall test rate was 7.7%.
Kansas last updated statewide numbers on Monday with at least 31,730 cases, including 387 deaths. The overall positive test rate was 9.7%.
Across the U.S., more than 5.1 million people have contracted the virus and 164,137 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.
