Kansas City metro records more than 600 new coronavirus cases Thursday
The Kansas City metropolitan saw its largest increase in coronavirus cases in two weeks, Thursday, as hospitals continue to see increasing patient loads.
The area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri, as well as Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas, gained 639 cases for a total of 51,243 cases.
The increase is the largest the metro area has seen since October 13 when 1,128 new cases were reported after Missouri resolved a technical error in case reporting.
Eleven new deaths were reported in the KC area, Thursday. 762 people in the metro area have died from the virus since March.
The University of Kansas Health System reported 40 patients hospitalized for the virus, up four from Wednesday.
“That’s our highest number to start a day,” said Steve Stites.
Eighteen are in the intensive care unit which forced hospital officials to open up an overflow ICU.
On Thursday, Missouri reported 177,693 cases including 2,899 deaths. There are 1,490 people hospitalized with the virus, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
Kansas reported 82,045 cases including 1,007 deaths. There are 432 patients hospitalized for the virus and 261 active clusters, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said.
Across the country, more than 8.9 million people have contracted the virus and 228,324 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.
This story was originally published October 29, 2020 at 5:21 PM.
