KU Health System sees record number of COVID patients before possible Thanksgiving wave
The University of Kansas Health System saw a record number of patients being treated for COVID-19 Monday, before the impact of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend even had time to take effect.
The KU Health System reported 102 coronavirus patients, an all-time high, while the Kansas City metro area added more than 900 new COVID-19 cases.
Health system chief medical officer Steve Stites said it could be weeks before officials can discern a potential wave of cases from the Thanksgiving holiday.
“It’s too early to actually see something from Thanksgiving because normally it takes two to five days to incubate, or maybe a little bit longer in some folks,” said Stites. “I’m more worried about what Thanksgiving’s going to do in another 10 to 14 days. I think between Dec. 10 and Dec. 14, we’ll know how that went.”
On Monday, the area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas gained 926 cases for a total of 82,582 to date.
The seven-day average for new cases had been on the decline for a week, but increased Monday with 954. One week ago, it was 1,182. Two weeks ago, it was 1,108, according to data maintained by The Star.
One death, in Kansas City, was reported, raising the metro’s total to 1,011.
Kansas confirmed 157,446 cases including 1,560 deaths Monday. There were 854 hospitalizations with 39% of ICU beds available. The monthly positive test rate was 18.4%.
Missouri reported 299,762 cases including 3,829 deaths. There were 2,498 hospitalizations with 20% of ICU beds remaining. The seven-day positive test rate was 20%.
Across the country, more than 13.4 million people have contracted the virus and 267,438 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.
This story was originally published November 30, 2020 at 3:34 PM.
