Kansas City metro adds more than 400 new COVID-19 cases and five more deaths
The Kansas City metropolitan area added more than 400 new COVID-19 cases on Friday as five more deaths were confirmed.
The area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas gained 429 new cases for a total of 24,784.
The metro added 343 cases on Monday, 301 on Tuesday, 556 on Wednesday and 494 on Thursday.
The seven-day rolling average for new cases was 388. One week ago, it was 361. Two weeks ago, it was 497.
The positive test rate was 5.43% in Kansas City, 7.53% in Clay County, 8.46% in Platte County, 7.2% in Johnson County and 18.1% in Wyandotte County. Data for Jackson County was not available.
Frank Thompson, deputy director of the Kansas City Health Department, said Friday that it is possible to gain control of the virus.
“From a public health perspective, what the science tells us is if we can get 95% compliance on wearing masks and get that for at least two to three months, we can beat back this virus,” he said.
On the Kansas side of the metro, which the Kansas Department of Health and Environment defines as Johnson, Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties, 34 patients are in area intensive care units for coronavirus treatment. Thirty-three percent of the area’s ICU beds remain available.
The five new deaths were reported in Wyandotte County, which has a total of 107, the highest of any jurisdiction within the metro. Johnson County has 106, Kansas City has 65, Jackson County has 54, Clay County has 22 and Platte County 10. A total of 363 have been identified in the metro.
On Friday, Missouri reported 65,270 cases including 1,335 deaths. The seven-day positive test rate was 11.8%. The overall positive test rate was 7.9%.
Kansas confirmed 33,885 cases including 402 deaths. The overall positive test rate was 9.9%.
Across the country, more than 5.2 million people have contracted the virus and 167,948 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.
