Kansas City metro adds 650 more COVID-19 cases and 13 deaths on Friday
The Kansas City metropolitan area added 13 more COVID-19 deaths on Friday, raising the 7-day rolling average to 8.5 per day, the highest average rate since late February.
On Friday, the area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas gained 650 new cases for a total of 179,150 to date.
The seven-day rolling average for new cases sits at 628, according to data tracked by The Star. One week ago, the average was 641 and two weeks ago, it was 705.
Over the past week, the metro added 4,393 more cases. Last week, the area gained 4,486 new cases and the week before, 4,932 were added.
The metro added 60 COVID-19 deaths in the past week, with the rolling average for daily deaths sitting at 8.5. A total of 2,522 people have died in the area since the pandemic began.
The University of Kansas Health System reported its hospital had 62 COVID-19 patients, down from 63 on Thursday.
“Even though the active numbers of infections really stayed about similar, we should say that we have had some admissions but unfortunately we had two deaths over the last 24 hours as well,” said Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control at the health system.
The health system has had a total of 485 COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic began.
“We know how to keep people out of the hospital: It’s called masking plus vaccination equals live long and prosper,” said chief medical officer Steve Stites.
On Friday, Kansas confirmed 365,773 total cases including 5,547 deaths. The monthly positive test rate was 10.2%. The state has fully vaccinated 45.1% of its population.
Missouri reported 624,239 total cases including 10,435 deaths. The seven-day positive test rate was 13%. The state has fully inoculated 44.6% of its residents.
Across the country, more than 38.4 million people have contracted COVID-19 and 634,137 have died, Johns Hopkins University said.
