KC metro adds 631 infections Sunday; Kansas sheriff among recent virus-related deaths
An additional 631 residents in the Kansas City metro area have been infected with the coronavirus, health officials reported Sunday.
With an additional death Sunday, the virus has now killed 1,215 residents and infected 101,738 to date in the region, which encompasses Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri, and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas.
In the last seven days, the region has recorded more than 5,850 additional infections, bringing the weekly rolling average to 835 new infections a day, according to data kept by The Star.
A week ago, that average was 1,032. Two weeks ago, it was 1,001. The highest average yet came Nov. 22 at 1,199.
Among those who have died recently from complications related to the virus is Sheriff Allan Weber of Gove County in northwestern Kansas.
The sheriff’s office described Weber as an “extraordinary public servant” in a Facebook post Friday announcing that he had died. He was transported to a medical center in Denver, Colorado, on Oct. 18 for COVID-19 respiratory complications.
More than 300 miles west of Kansas City, the county of 2,636 has recorded 18 deaths, for a rate of about 6.82 deaths per 1,000 residents — the highest rate in the state. The county’s emergency management director, the hospital CEO and more than 50 medical staff also tested positive.
Shortly before Weber was taken to Colorado, he spoke to a reporter with The Associated Press. Occasionally coughing, he said he had been hospitalized in the past for asthma attacks, but the COVID-19 symptoms were more pronounced.
“You got body aches and headaches,” he said. “The tightness in my chest is different.”
In Kansas, the virus has infected 200,426 residents and killed 2,341. The state’s monthly positive test rate was 14.2%.
While across Missouri, 365,186 residents to date have been infected, including 4,937 who have died. In the last seven days, the state’s positive test rate was 17.1%.
Nationwide, the virus has infected at least 17.7 million people and killed more than 317,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 20, 2020 at 3:17 PM.
