‘It’s going to be an interesting few months’ as COVID moves indoors, KC doctors say
Medical experts in Kansas City are predicting new COVID-19 infections as residents move indoors for the winter.
While new reported cases are down slightly this week in the metro, hospitalization rates have yet to drop and national trends suggest viral ‘hot spots’ re-emerging around the county.
“As people go inside, and we see more and more variants, it’s going to be an interesting few months,” said Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health System, in a Wednesday news briefing. “If you watch the national numbers, the new hospitalizations and new cases are trending up.”
“For the most part, when we have gone back to look at these patients, they have either not been up to date with their boosters, they have not been vaccinated at all, or especially if they have significant comorbidities,” added Dr. Dana Hawkinson, the hospital’s medical director of infection prevention and control.
Here’s the latest COVID-19 data in the Kansas City area.
What does Kansas City’s COVID-19 data look like this week?
Officials reported a total of 1,141 new cases of COVID-19 in the Kansas City area over the past week, down from 1,412 the previous week. That gives the metro a 7-day average of around 163 new cases per day, compared to around 202 per day a week earlier.
Since many people are taking COVID tests at home, which aren’t publicly recorded, experts say real case totals are likely anywhere from two to five times higher than what data shows.
The state of Missouri is no longer reporting death counts at the county level. Johnson County reported three new deaths since last week, while Wyandotte County reported none. That brings the Kansas City metro area’s death total up to at least 4,405 since the pandemic began.
How vaccinated is the Kansas City area?
Part of our defense against the most active COVID-19 variants are the new bivalent booster shots that are available at clinics around the metro. These boosters offer protection from both the original COVID-19 and several strains of the omicron variant. A recent Star report found that only around 4% of eligible patients in the metro have gotten the new booster.
Anyone who has received an initial COVID-19 vaccination, including children as young as five years old, can now get one of these new shots. They’re available at local health departments, clinics and pharmacies around the metro.
Overall vaccination rates in the metro are rising slowly, with 65.01% of the population fully vaccinated in the Kansas City region. Eastern Kansas has a higher vaccination rate, at 74.14%, than western Missouri does at 58.21%.
How are hospitals holding up?
The University of Kansas Health System is treating 21 patients with active COVID-19 infections, up from 20 last Tuesday. Two of these patients are in the ICU and both are on ventilators, compared to five ICU patients and one on a ventilator last week.
“Unfortunately it’s kind of staying in that low 20’s to high teens,” Hawkinson said. “We haven’t seen that dip to zero or two patients that we had early on.”
MARC hospitalization data shows that the greater Kansas City area is now seeing an average of 66 new hospitalizations per day, down from 74 per day last week. Hospitalization trends usually follow several weeks behind case numbers, although current case numbers may not accurately reflect the full extent of the virus due to home testing.
What are the COVID-19 risk levels in the Kansas City area?
Clay, Platte, Jackson and Johnson Counties have all remained at a “low” community level of COVID-19. This indicates the medical care is readily available for COVID-19 patients.
Wyandotte County is still at a “medium” community level. That means the CDC recommends maintaining good ventilation, getting up to date on your vaccines and boosters, and wearing a mask if you are immunocompromised or indoors with someone who is.
All the counties that make up the Kansas City metro area remain at “high” transmission levels, except for Wyandotte County, which lowered to “substantial” two weeks ago. Both these rankings mean that your risk of catching COVID-19 in public is still elevated, even though medical care may be easier to access than before.
Do you have more questions about staying safe from COVID-19 in Kansas City? Ask our Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.
This story was originally published November 11, 2022 at 7:30 AM.
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