Kansas Gov. Kelly moved quickly on COVID-19. Her follow-up has been less successful
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly quickly responded to the coronavirus crisis. That swift action as the pandemic began to take hold undoubtedly saved lives, and Kansans should be grateful.
Kelly declared a state of emergency in Kansas on March 12. Within the next week, she ordered limits on social gatherings, closed the state’s schools, prohibited evictions and foreclosures, and stopped utility disconnections. All were necessary steps to protect the public.
Ultimately, though, Kansans will judge their governor on her entire record — not just her initial reaction to the COVID-19 outbreak. And there are troubling problems in Kansas that the governor and her staff have yet to fully address, to the detriment of thousands of residents.
The biggest issue remains at the unemployment office, where claimants are still struggling to navigate the state’s website or reach someone on the phone. “There’s no sugar coating it,” Kelly told reporters last week. “The system has been overloaded.”
There’s no question the state’s unemployment insurance program has faced unprecedented challenges. Yet they don’t seem insurmountable: On Thursday, Kelly said 160,000 Kansans had filed unemployment claims during the past four weeks. That’s an average of 8,000 claims a day.
While that’s an enormous increase above the state’s normal unemployment workload, private businesses routinely handle that many transactions in a 24-hour period. Kansas should be able to do so too.
Other states are facing similar challenges, and while there are delays almost everywhere, Kansas has been particularly slow to respond to the needs of the newly unemployed.
According to Department of Labor figures analyzed by the Associated Press, Kansas has responded to claims more slowly than California, Kentucky, Michigan and Oregon, among other states.
On March 27, President Donald Trump signed legislation, which, among other things, pays the unemployed an extra $600 a week for four months. As of April 20, those funds still had not arrived in Kansans’ mailboxes. That is unacceptable.
There are other concerns. The COVID-19 death toll in Wyandotte County — 44 as of Monday — leads the state. At least 24 people have died at the Riverbend Post Acute Rehabilitation facility in the county.
Kansans will want to know why so many people have died in Wyandotte County and what the state might have done to reduce the fatality rate.
On Monday, a spokesperson for the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services said state and federal inspectors will examine Riverbend this week to make sure it is complying with applicable laws — a sign of progress. But the state should undertake a full investigation of the response to Riverbend and publish the names of other nursing homes with coronavirus cases.
There have been at least two disturbances at Kansas prisons since the coronavirus outbreak. The governor’s administration has announced a change in the medical provider for its prisons, which may be a case of closing the gate after the horses have left the corral.
COVID-19 cases at Kansas meat-packing facilities are a growing problem. Kelly must make sure workers’ health and safety are protected if the slaughterhouses are to remain open.
Finally, the state’s budget is a mess. On Monday, state officials said Kansas will take in nearly $1.3 billion less during the next two years than it expected. The revenue collapse comes as state expenses — for schools, prisons, unemployment — go up.
The governor has performed well — with some room for improvement — in the first six weeks of the coronavirus disaster. But the next six months will be the real test.