KC metro adds nearly 800 COVID-19 cases as vaccine shipments set out across the US
The Kansas City metropolitan area added 795 COVID-19 cases Sunday as doses of the first federally-approved vaccine began shipping across the nation.
No new deaths were reported Sunday, keeping the number of total deaths in the metro at 1,134.
To date, at least 95,887 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.
The seven-day rolling average for new cases in the Kansas City metro sits at 1,032. One week ago, it was 1,001. Two weeks ago, it was 933.
Delivery trucks filled with the Pfizer vaccine hit the road Sunday as shipping companies UPS and FedEx began delivering Pfizer’s vaccine to nearly 150 distribution centers across the states. The vaccines they carry will begin arriving in states Monday morning, U.S. officials said Saturday.
Officials in Kansas and Missouri have said they expect doses to arrive before the end of the week. Both states have plans to give the first doses to healthcare workers.
Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services Director Randall Williams said earlier this month 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 the year.
As of Sunday, Johnson County tallied the greatest number of infections in the metro, at 28,739. The county has also suffered the most deaths, with 339.
Kansas City has reported 316 known COVID-19 deaths and 26,637 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 Sunday, Missouri reported more than 345,041 cases to date, including nearly 4,511 deaths. The seven-day positive test rate was 18.1%.
As of Friday, the most recent day in which numbers were reported, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 185,294 cases, including 2,072 deaths. The monthly positive test rate was 16.4%.
Across the country, more than 16.1 million people have contracted the virus and more than 298,500 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. Globally, more than 72 million people have tested positive for the virus and more than 1.6 million have died.
