Kansas City metro exceeds 500 COVID-19 related deaths with five reported Thursday
The Kansas City area exceeded 500 deaths from the coronavirus Thursday as five new deaths and 325 new cases of the virus were reported.
The area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas has recorded a total of 35,536 cases of the rapidly spreading virus.
The seven-day rolling average of new cases in the metro is 283. Last week it was 265. Two weeks ago, it was 338.
The increase and milestone comes as the Johnson County Commission narrowly voted to uphold the county’s mask order and the Kansas City Health Department announced that one of the Chiefs fans in attendance at last Thursday’s home opener had tested positive for COVID-19.
Of the five new deaths reported Thursday, two were reported in both Johnson and Jackson counties and one was reported in Kansas City. At least 503 people in the metro area have died from the virus so far.
On Thursday, Missouri listed 108,134 cases, including 1,757 deaths.
The positive test rate was 11.1%.
When Kansas last reported numbers on Wednesday there were 50,870 cases, including 586 deaths.
The positive test rate was 7.7%.
Nationwide, the virus has infected more than 6.6 million people, killing more than 197,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.
This story was originally published September 17, 2020 at 5:16 PM.
