Kansas City metro reports 27 more COVID-19 deaths after Missouri releases updated data
Twenty-seven more COVID-19 deaths were reported Wednesday in the Kansas City metropolitan after Missouri released updated data.
A total of 543 people have died in the area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties on the Kansas side.
The metro reported three new deaths on Monday and six on Tuesday.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said some of the deaths the state reported Wednesday occurred in previous months. The agency recently linked its disease surveillance systems with updated death certificate data, prompting the jump in the number of deaths.
The Kansas City metro added 306 new cases Wednesday, raising the total number of cases to 37,447.
The seven-day rolling average for new cases has increased this week and is currently at 319. The rate was below 300 from Sept. 7 to Sept. 19. One week ago, it was 279. Two weeks ago, it was 267.
The University of Kansas Health System said its hospital had 26 patients being treated for the virus, up two from Tuesday.
David Lisbon, an emergency medicine physician with the health system, encouraged people to be thoughtful about a “new normal.”
“Humans are social animals and we’re the better for it, we just have to be thoughtful and careful about our gatherings,” he said. “We have to, at this point in the evolution of this pandemic, really rely on what can be thought of as the simple things, the public health things that we know work.
“So really wearing those masks, keeping that distance, being again very thoughtful about the large gatherings. And again, we are confident that science will bring an answer for us for this pandemic and that the community will pull together to do what’s best.”
On Wednesday, Missouri confirmed 116,946 cases including 1,947 deaths. The seven-day positive test rate was 11.4%. The overall positive rate was 8.9%.
Kansas reported 55,226 cases including 621 deaths. The monthly positive test rate was 7.4%.
Nationwide, more than 6.9 million people have contracted the virus and 201,319 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.
