Kansas City metro adds nearly 300 new COVID-19 cases and one new death Tuesday
The Kansas City metropolitan area added nearly 300 new COVID-19 cases and one more death Tuesday.
The area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas gained 293 new cases for a total of 26,085.
The one death reported was in Jackson County.
The seven-day rolling average for new cases sits at 397. One week ago, it was 345. Two weeks ago, it was 438.
The Kansas City Health Department reports its two week positive test rate as 10.25%.
The overall positive test rate in other areas of the metro were 8.42% in Jackson County, 7.66% in Clay County, 8.63% in Platte County, 7.4% in Johnson County and 18.4% in Wyandotte County.
On Tuesday, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson met with Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator.
In a news release, Parson’s office said they have implemented the “box in” testing strategy Birx introduced, particularly at long-term care facilities. Throughout the state, 468 facilities have reported at least one COVID-19 case. More than 115,000 tests have been conducted at facilities using the box-in strategy, Parson’s office said.
Over the weekend, Birx met with Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and local health officials.
“Don’t be cavalier about getting this virus,” Birx said. “We know people with comorbidities and the older individuals have a more difficult outcome, but everybody should really work on not getting infected with this virus.”
One new death was reported, in Jackson County, raising the metro’s total to 375.
On Tuesday, Missouri reported 69,417 cases including 1,402 deaths. The seven-day positive test rate was 11.2%. The overall positive test rate was 8%.
Kansas, which last updated its data Monday, has at least 35,167 cases including 405 deaths. The overall positive test rate was 9.9%.
Across the country, more than 5.4 million people have contracted the virus and 171,013 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.
