‘Hopefully this is not a trend:’ COVID cases rising but not spiking in Kansas City
.JPG "The UGPHD closed its mass COVID-19 vaccination and testing facility at the former Kmart site, 7836 State Ave., on March 30, 2022.")
While case numbers in Kansas City are continuing to rise slightly, hospitalizations and deaths have not followed suit. This may be due to a small “wave” caused by the BA.2 subvariant, which local experts predicted would be very mild.
Officials reported a total of 936 new cases in the Kansas City area over the past week. That’s higher than last week’s total of 654 new cases. The past week saw an average of 134 cases per day in the metro area, while last week’s average was 93 cases per day over seven days.
This week’s numbers do not include data from Wyandotte County, which experienced a cybersecurity attack last weekend and cannot currently update its COVID data dashboard.
The state of Missouri has reported eight new COVID deaths in the past 12 days. These deaths did not necessarily occur in the counties that comprise the Kansas City metro area. Johnson County reported five deaths in the last week, while the death total from Wyandotte County was unavailable. That’s a total of at least five new deaths in the Kansas City metro, bringing the local total up to at least 4,281.
New data reporting that deemphasizes daily case numbers and death totals by county has changed the way The Star provides COVID-19 updates. This is because both Kansas and Missouri are treating COVID-19 as “endemic” now. Here’s what that means for you.
How are hospitals holding up?
The University of Kansas Health System is currently treating nine patients with active COVID-19 infections. It was treating five at this time last week. Two of these patients are in the ICU, and one is on a ventilator.
“Hopefully this is not a trend,” said infectious disease specialist Dr. Dana Hawkinson in a news briefing on Friday, April 22. “We know cases have been increasing around the nation… mostly, that’s probably due to the Northeast. Hopefully we won’t see a significant increase in active infections coming into the hospital.”
The hospital recently announced that it will stop giving COVID tests to all incoming patients and instead test only those who think they are infected or are symptomatic. Hawkinson has noted that this change may impact the daily health system COVID numbers.
Hospitals in the Kansas City area are not currently seeing a significant influx of COVID-19 patients, but experts are staying vigilant in case a new “wave” arrives.
How vaccinated is the Kansas City area?
Vaccination rates in the area are rising slowly, with 61.54% of the population fully vaccinated in the Kansas City region. Eastern Kansas has a higher vaccination rate, at 69.43%, than western Missouri does at 55.65%.
Getting vaccinated is still the most effective way to protect yourself and others from COVID-19, and experts recommend using increased caution if you are not yet vaccinated.
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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