Kansas City metro adds over 220 new COVID-19 cases, weekly average drops again
The Kansas City metropolitan area added more than 220 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths on Thursday.
The area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas added 223 cases for a total of 138,353 cases to date.
The seven-day average for new cases dropped to 188, according to data maintained by The Star. One week ago, the average sat at 210 and two weeks ago, it was 252.
Two deaths were reported in Kansas City Thursday, raising the metro’s total to 1,979.
The University of Kansas Health System reported 24 patients hospitalized for the virus, down from 27 on Wednesday. Eight were in the intensive care unit with six on ventilators.
Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control, said the number of hospitalizations looked pretty good, but that the overall number of deaths was still staggering.
The health system has had 329 COVID-19 deaths to date.
“Even for our hospital, I would say it’s probably a decade or more before we get to 329 deaths from influenza,” Hawkinson said.
On Thursday, Missouri confirmed 477,078 cases and 7,902 deaths to date. The seven-day positive test rate was 6.1%.
The state has administered 1,129,416 doses of the vaccine, covering 12.3% of the population. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the state had received 1,519,205 doses with 1,137,233 administered. Numbers vary due to a lag in reporting, health officials have said.
Kansas reported 292,837 cases and 4,724 deaths total. The monthly positive test rate was 5%.
The state has distributed 694,720 doses with 506,401 doses administered, covering 12% of the population, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said.
Across the country, more than 28.3 million people have contracted the virus and 507,146 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.
This story was originally published February 25, 2021 at 3:17 PM.
