Health officials caution against holiday gatherings as KC metro adds 32 COVID deaths
Health officials in the Kansas City metro remain concerned about the impact of Thanksgiving gatherings and the spread of the novel coronavirus as the holidays approach.
They anticipate the impact from Thanksgiving will eventually be seen as more of a wave rather than a single point in time. The expectation is the spread from Thanksgiving will continue with a ripple effect, spanning a six to eight week period that will likely be folded into the Christmas holidays.
“If it was just for Thanksgiving and the weekend to follow, in theory, the 14-day incubation period should be starting to tail off now,” said Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Dr. Lee Norman.
But there’s been an uptick in activities between Thanksgiving and Christmas, including shopping and gatherings, he said.
“It’s really a blur of a holiday and not a point on the calendar,” he said. “The admonishment is still the same: Be very cautions and minimize the mass gatherings.”
The area may not see the results of lax behavior over the holidays until mid-January, he said, and that’s months before most of the public is expected to be able to get the vaccine.
On Tuesday, the Kansas City metropolitan area added 700 COVID-19 cases, as well as an additional 32 deaths related to the disease. Kansas City and Jackson County each recorded eight deaths, 11 were in Johnson County, and five in Clay County.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly also encouraged Kansans to “stay with it” and keep their masks on, keep their distance and not to mass gather for the holidays.
“Help is on the way,” Kelly said. “We can do this. We can beat this virus if we stick together. So just hang in there a few more months and we’ll be on the other side of all of this.”
To date, at least 97,274 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. There have been 1,173 people who have died from the disease.
The seven-day rolling average for new cases in the Kansas City metro sits at 974. One week ago, it was 1,013. Two weeks ago, it was 923.
On Monday, Missouri reported more than 350,365 cases to date, including nearly 4,7545 deaths. The seven-day positive test rate was 17.9%.
Missouri’s total number of deaths included 208 previously unreported COVID-19-related deaths. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services’ Bureau of Vital Records analyzes death certificates each week and adjusts its totals to reflect deaths that had not already been reported to the state by another entity.
Two of the deaths occurred in August, four of the deaths occurred in October, 180 occurred in November and 22 of the deaths occurred this month.
On Monday, 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 16.6 million people have contracted the virus and more than 302,294 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.
Residents in the Kansas City metro, as well as in Kansas and Missouri shouldn’t let their guard down just because a COVID-19 vaccine has arrived, officials advised Tuesday.
“Don’t get cocky,” said Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer at the University of Kansas Health System, during a daily media update.
For the last 10 months, the coronavirus has kept people on the defensive. With the vaccines, the fight is finally on the offensive, he said. He likened the vaccines to having Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes as quarterback.
“So follow the rules of infection control because we’re coming back and we’re coming back strong,” Stites said. “Game on.”
