COVID hospitalizations are dropping steadily in Kansas City. Check out the data
Local data shows that hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients are on the decline in the Kansas City area. The nonprofit Mid-America Regional Council (MARC), which collects pandemic data for portions of Kansas and Missouri, tracked significant decreases in COVID-19 hospital occupancy in the past month.
As of Wednesday, Feb. 16, MARC data showed that only 13% of hospital beds in the Kansas City area are being used by COVID-19 patients. One month earlier, that number was over 30%. This decline mirrors the drop in COVID-19 case numbers tracked by The Star.
Recent data also shows that local hospitals were seeing an average of 44 new COVID-19 patients per day as of Tuesday, Feb. 15. Four weeks earlier, they were seeing 85 new COVID-19 patients per day.
ICU bed occupancy by COVID-19 patients is also declining. On Wednesday, Feb. 16, only 31 COVID-19 patients were in the ICU in the Kansas City area. During last month’s peak in cases of the highly contagious omicron variant, ICU patient numbers were more than triple what they are now, reaching 101 COVID-19 patients on Wednesday, Jan. 19.
This significant decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations is a welcome relief for area hospitals, which have been struggling to handle the recent patient influx amid supply chain issues, staffing shortages and pandemic fatigue.
“Every day when I [go] around in the intensive care unit and check on the staff, people are in tears,” said Dr. Lisa Hays, Chief Medical Officer of AdventHealth Shawnee Mission, in a news briefing during the height of the omicron variant surge on Jan 12. “They’re struggling to get the community to understand how dire the situation is.”
Check the map below to see how hospitals are faring near you. Hover over each colored dot to see the hospital’s name, its available beds, and its ICU occupancy rate.
This data is an average of numbers over the past seven days. It shows each hospital’s overall occupancy numbers, but not how many beds are filled specifically by COVID-19 patients, which is why the percentages are different from the numbers we describe above.
Do you have more questions about staying safe from COVID-19 in Kansas City? Ask our Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.
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