Masks are pivotal to getting KC, country out of COVID-19 pandemic — even with vaccines
Wearing masks will continue to be a major component in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic — even as vaccines arrive in the Kansas City metro, a University of Kansas professor said Monday.
“I’m hoping that, you know, people realize that the vaccine is not going to be here immediately and we need to continue to take precautions to prevent the spread of COVID,” said Donna K. Ginther, a professor of economics and director of the Institute for Policy and Social Research at the University of Kansas. “Mask wearing is an important step in that direction.”
Ginther’s comments came during the daily coronavirus media briefing conducted by The University of Kansas Health System. A study conducted by Ginther and Carlos Zambrana, associate researcher at the institute, earlier in the pandemic found that masks work when it comes to significantly slowing the spread of COVID-19.
She fears that those who are reluctant to wear a mask will also be reluctant to get a vaccine.
“Wearing a mask now and getting a vaccine when it’s available is going to be our only path out of this crisis,” Ginther said.
On Monday, the Kansas City metropolitan area added 682 COVID-19 cases. There were also seven additional people who died from the disease — all from Johnson County.
To date, at least 96,569 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 996. One week ago, it was 1,002. Two weeks ago, it was 954.
Truman Medical Centers/University Health received its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine Monday morning, and vaccinated its first employee later in the day, but it’s going to take time to get everyone vaccinated.
Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health System, said it will be another four to six months before everyone in the country will be able to get the vaccine.
“The [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services] have issued guidelines to states of how to do this in terms of the rank order of patients and then once it gets to the states, the distribution is done at a state level and the exact who’s going to get it when and where is at a state level for planning,” Stites said.
On Monday, Missouri reported more than 347,603 cases to date, including nearly 4,514 deaths. The seven-day positive test rate was 17.8%.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 190,018 cases, including 2,109 deaths. The monthly positive test rate was 16.1%.
Across the country, more than 16.3 million people have contracted the virus and more than 300,267 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. Globally, more than 72.6 million people have tested positive for the virus and more than 1.6 million have died.
