Health officials optimistic as new COVID-19 cases trending downward in KC metro
Health officials are encouraged that the number of new COVID-19 cases has been trending downward in the Kansas City area, but they are still remaining cautions as the metro closes in on a new milestone.
“I think we see some optimism in the total number of new cases in the Kansas City area, which is continuing to trend down just under 1,000,” said Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control at The University of Kansas Health System during a media update Thursday.
“I think the trend over the last four or five days have been really good.”
While Steve Stites, chief medical officer at the health system, liked the trend in new infections, he said he doesn’t want to see people getting “cocky.”
“There’s still widespread community dissemination of COVID-19 though,” he said. “I don’t want people to say, ‘Oh gosh, we’re better. Things are good. The trends are down.’ They’re really, really, really high.”
The Kansas City area reached a grim milestone Thursday and it is closing in on yet another.
The number of people who have died from the disease eclipsed 1,200 as an additional 13 COVID-19 related deaths were reported — 10 in Johnson County and one each in Kansas City, Jackson County and Clay County.
As of Thursday, there have been 1,205 people who have died from the disease.
Meanwhile, the Kansas City metropolitan area is closing in on 100,000 people who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. On Thursday, 1,032 new cases of COVID-19 cases were added to the area’s total.
To date, at least 99,249 people have been infected with the 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 927. One week ago, it was 1,084. Two weeks ago, it was 872.
Heart to Heart to help with vaccines
Heart to Heart International announced Thursday that it will be able to be a storage facility for the COVID-19 vaccines as well as a partner in administering it.
The global humanitarian organization headquartered in Lenexa said it would be able to purchase additional cold storage units for its warehouse thanks to a generous commitment from FedEx.
“With the vital medicines and vaccines that we distribute to countries throughout the world as well as to vulnerable communities right here in the United States, we had been researching, fundraising and pricing cold storage units for the past year,” Kim Carroll, chief executive officer of Heart to Heart International, said in a news release.
“Now that we have cold storage units in place, with more to come, we have the ability to store the new COVID-19 vaccine, and we are positioned to partner with those who need our help when the vaccine is ready to distribute.”
During the past several months, the organization has received funding to purchase three cold storage units:
▪ A 1,200 square-foot walk-in refrigerator big enough to store up to 1 million doses of vaccines.
▪ A 1,200 square-foot walk-in freezer large enough to store up to 1 million doses of vaccines.
▪ Ultra-cold storage freezer large enough to store thousands of doses of vaccines.
Kansas, Missouri cases, deaths on the rise
State-wide in Missouri, there have been more than 356,607 cases to date, including nearly 4,834 deaths. The seven-day positive test rate was 17.5%.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 194,569 cases, including 2,253 deaths. The monthly positive test rate was 16.1%.
Across the country, more than 17.1 million people have contracted the virus and more than 309,334 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. Globally, more than 73.9 million people have tested positive for the virus and more than 1.6 million have died.
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 4:00 PM.
