KC metro adds over 900 COVID-19 cases as local doctors dispel rumors around vaccine
The Kansas City metropolitan area added 936 COVID-19 cases Monday, bringing the total number of people infected with the virus to nearly 89,600 as health officials prepare residents to get vaccinations.
The total number of deaths in the metro area remains at 1,080.
To date, at least 89,599 people have been infected with the novel coronavirus in the metro area, which encompasses Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas.
Infections and fatalities continue to rise as two vaccines inch closer to potentially rolling out across the country. Pfizer and its partner, BioNTech, along with Moderna, are in line for U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorization on Dec. 10 and Dec. 17, respectively.
That means that if Pfizer is approved this week, vaccinations could begin vaccinations as early as Friday, Steve Stites, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health System, said during a media briefing Monday.
He said they are prioritizing vaccinating frontline workers with direct exposure to people with COVID as well as those in the most vulnerable populations.
Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Director Randall Williams said Friday that he expects to be able to vaccinate all residents in Missouri nursing homes as well as healthcare workers set to receive priority access by the end of December.
Stites and other medical professionals on Monday’s media call dispelled rumors and misinformation about the vaccine. Matthias Salathe, chair of internal medicine, called both vaccines in line for FDA approval both safe and “highly effective.”
Salathe added that he would “be willing to stand in line” for the vaccine. Stites agreed.
“What I hope is this: that the people who do not want to take the vaccine are not the same people who don’t want to wear masks, because if that’s true, that’s an entire category of people that are going to be really at the greatest risk of all,” Stites said. “And at some point you have to try and believe in rational science and not the mythology of the internet.”
However, they said the rollout of vaccines doesn’t mean people can immediately abandon mask wearing.
Stites pointed to comments by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, who estimated that masks will need to continue to be worn into late next year as the virus’s continued spread won’t immediately stop.
“This is a chance to actually break out of this cycle and we need to be all together in this, not stopping masking,” Salathe said, adding that there is optimism that a return to normal life will be much closer as soon as the vaccinations are approved.
Until then, total case counts continue to rise as some people refuse to social distance or wear masks.
The seven-day rolling average for new cases in the Kansas City metro sits at 1,002. One week ago, it was 954. Two weeks ago, it was 1,182.
Johnson County tallies the greatest number of infections in the metro, at 26,443. It’s also suffered the most deaths, with 309.
Kansas City is close behind, with 304 known COVID-19 deaths and 25,335 cases to date. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services’s COVID-19 data for Jackson, Clay and Platte counties does not include the cases discovered within Kansas City’s city limits.
On Monday, Missouri reported more than 324,950 cases to date, including nearly 4,200 deaths. The seven-day positive test rate was 19.8%.
As of Monday, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 174,025 cases, including 1,856 deaths. The monthly positive test rate was 17.1%.
Across the country, nearly 14.9 million people have contracted the virus and more than 283,200 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. Globally, more than 67.4 million people have tested positive for the virus and more than 1.5 million have died.
