Kansas City area adds more than 580 COVID cases in past week, 33% jump from previous week
The Kansas City metropolitan area added more than 580 new COVID-19 cases this past week, a 33% increase over the previous week.
On Tuesday, the area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas gained 102 new cases for a total of 150,646 to date. Over the past week, the metro added 582 new cases. Last week, the area added 438 new cases and the week before that, 368 new cases were identified.
The seven-day rolling average for new cases rose to 83, the highest it has been since May 27. One week ago, the average was 63, according to data tracked by The Star.
Over the past week, the metro added 15 more deaths, raising the total to 2,269 since the pandemic began.
Johnson County continues to lead the metro on vaccinations, with 51.7% of its population fully vaccinated. It is followed by Platte County at 39.4%, Jackson County at 37.7%, Clay County at 37% and Wyandotte County at 34%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Thirteen patients were being treated for the virus at The University of Kansas Health System, up from 12 on Monday. Five were in the intensive care unit with four on ventilators.
The last COVID-19 death at the health system was on June 19.
Experts at the health system expressed concern about the spread of the Delta variant. In late May, the variant made up about 10% of the cases that were sequenced in Kansas and Missouri, said Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control. It has jumped to 65-75%.
“Vaccination continues to be the way that you can protect yourself and your loved ones,” he said.
Chief medical officer Steve Stites said he continues to monitor research on the need for a second shot for those who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was rolled out as a one-dose regimen.
“I’m not recommending another shot yet, but I’ll tell you what, we’re looking at the data real closely to watch and see,” Stites said.
On Tuesday, Missouri reported 523,860 total cases including 9,302 deaths. The seven-day positive test rate was 8.1%.
The state has administered 4,938,822 vaccine doses, with 44.3% of the population initiating vaccination. Missouri has received 6,113,705 doses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Kansas identified 317,651 total cases including 5,150 deaths. The monthly positive test rate was 2.9%.
The state has distributed 2,893,720 vaccine doses. Of those, 2,331,546 have been administered, with 44.1% of the population initiating vaccination.
Across the country, more than 33.6 million people have contracted COVID-19 and 604,204 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.
