KC metro sees dip in new coronavirus cases as testing slows over Thanksgiving holiday
The Kansas City metro area on Saturday saw the fewest number of people testing positive for the coronavirus since the first week of November, according to data tracked by The Star.
With an additional 660 residents testing positive, the virus has now infected nearly 81,000 people across the region, which encompasses Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri, and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas.
It was back on Nov. 4, when Kansas City last reported so few new cases. On that day, there were 626 additional cases. The dip in the number of new cases comes as testing slowed over the Thanksgiving holiday.
With two additional deaths reported Saturday, one each in Kansas City and Jackson County, COVID-19 has killed 1,006 people in the metro. The region surpassed the grim milestone of 1,000 virus-related deaths on Thanksgiving Day.
During the past seven days, the area has reported more than 7,020 new cases, bringing the weekly rolling average to 1,003 new cases a day. That average was 1,185 new cases a day this time last week and 1,078 two weeks ago.
At 23,937 cases and 285 deaths, Johnson County has been the hardest hit by the virus, closely followed by Kansas City, which has a total of 22,969 cases and 281 deaths.
Across Kansas, 153,021 people have been infected by the coronavirus and 1,529 people have died from COVID-19. The monthly positive test rate was 18.6%. There were 802 COVID-19 patients hospitalized, according to state health officials’ latest numbers. That included 221 who were in ICU and 73 who were on ventilators.
In Missouri, 292,740 people have tested positive for the virus and 3,817 people have died from COVID-19. The seven-day positively rate is 18.9%.
Nationwide, the virus has infected at least 13.2 million people and killed more than 265,720, according to Johns Hopkins University.
This story was originally published November 28, 2020 at 3:49 PM with the headline "KC metro sees dip in new coronavirus cases as testing slows over Thanksgiving holiday."
