Kansas City metro breaks daily record for new coronavirus cases with more than 800
The Kansas City metropolitan area reported its largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases Saturday since the pandemic began, with 835 new cases.
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 43,714 cases of the rapidly spreading virus.
The previous daily record, 685 cases, was recorded on July 30. The Kansas City area recorded its first case of COVID-19 on March 3.
More than half of Saturday’s increase was reported in Kansas City and Jackson County, with a combined 584 new cases.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services did not immediately respond to questions about other factors, such as lab backlogs, that might have contributed to the increase.
The seven-day rolling average of new cases in the metro is 380. Last week it was 344. Two weeks ago, it was 327.
Five new COVID-19 related deaths were reported, two in Kansas City and three in Jackson County. At least 636 people in the metro area have died from the virus so far.
On Saturday, Missouri listed 144,230 cases, including 2,422 deaths.
The positive test rate was 14%.
When Kansas last reported numbers on Friday there were 65,807 cases, including 763 deaths.
The positive test rate was 7.3%.
Nationwide, the virus has infected more than 7.6 million people, killing more than 214,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.
This story was originally published October 10, 2020 at 1:58 PM.
