Kansas City Mayor Lucas: Toughest part of having COVID was seeing infant son get sick
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said while his recent coronavirus infection came with some symptoms, the most difficult part was watching his infant struggle with the illness.
The 37-year-old mayor tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 30 in a breakthrough infection.
A short time later, Lucas, who had been quarantining in his garage, announced that his wife, who is also fully vaccinated, and 8-month-old son also caught the virus.
Lucas on Wednesday, during a televised interview with doctors at the University of Kansas Health System, said he and his family were past the “slog” and were again feeling “great.”
While Lucas said he experienced some symptoms while infected, the hardest part was watching his young son become ill with a high fever and stuffed-up nose.
“He hasn’t really been exposed to much because of a lot of the responsible stuff that we’re doing — not in big crowds — so for your first fever to be something that serious is a real challenge,” Lucas said.
He urged those who’ve not yet been vaccinated to do so.
“It did right by me,” he said of the vaccine, re-iterating that his symptoms were mild.
Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer for the KU system, noted Wednesday that between 95% and 98% of the patients infected with COVID-19 that they see in the ICU are unvaccinated.
Vaccinated or not, Lucas urged those in public places to mask up.
“It’s not that hard,” he said.
No universal mask mandate is currently in place in Kansas City. Asked again Wednesday about the possibility of bringing back a community-wide mandate, Lucas said it’s an option his office continues to evaluate as requests for such an order continue to come in from local health professionals and businesses.
The mayor has said previously that one of the largest challenges to a new mandate is Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who previously filed numerous lawsuits against jurisdictions that reinstated the mandate, including Jackson County.
Lucas said while reinstating a mandate is possible, almost every mask rule is immediately subject to litigation by the attorney general’s office.
Schmitt, a Republican running for a U.S. Senate seat, previously called mask mandates “ridiculous” and an “intrusion.”
On Sunday, in an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation, Lucas said City Hall was focusing its rhetoric around trying to get people vaccinated.
In the days prior to that interview, when asked about the possibility of re-issuing a mask mandate, Lucas said no immediate plans were in place, in part because of challenges to enforcing the mandate.
On Wednesday, he sounded more willing to consider it.
In the new year, surges of the delta and omicron variants have left hospital beds full and businesses, including schools and hospitals, understaffed.
As of Tuesday, the rolling average of new COVID-19 cases across the metro area was about 3,668 per day over seven days, according to data tracked by The Star. That’s a little higher than last week’s average of 3,554.
Local officials have reported 25,677 new COVID-19 cases in the past week, bringing the total number of cases in Kansas City up to 302,678 since the pandemic began, and the total number of deaths to 3,566.
The current coronavirus numbers are “a dramatic concern,” Lucas said, adding that he has grave concerns with a citywide ability to provide basic public services as infection rates soar and workers quarantine at home in droves.
Lucas said he plans to again convene a meeting with leaders of the CORE4: Kansas City, Jackson County, Wyandotte County and Johnson County to discuss measures to mitigate the spread of the virus.
“It is time for us to get back in touch,” he said Wednesday. “It’s important for us to go back to acting in concert.”
Lucas said he hopes to provide more updates in the next week.
This story was originally published January 19, 2022 at 11:28 AM.
