Quinton Lucas: If Kansas City doesn’t take COVID-19 seriously now, we are all at risk

Kansas City alone has lost nearly 250 of our brothers and sisters — 900 across our region.

For months, we watched COVID-19 cases rise — every graph a jagged, diagonal line climbing higher. We have seen the same headline repeating itself: The metropolitan breaks its single-day COVID-19 record. More than 1,200 cases were reported just last Tuesday.

Exhaustion becomes anger, hopelessness or even a gradual numbness to the new tragedy of the day. People are tired, so they scroll past another headline, ditch their masks in the comfort of a friend’s home and make plans to see families for the holidays. But at what cost?

Some went to a local taqueria for a drink with a friend. And then we read that a bartender there died from coronvirus-related heart problems. Some threw a small get-together for our brother, a middle school teacher, who has been having a rough time with virtual instruction. Not long after, he died after weeks of complications from COVID-19. Some dropped off their seventh grader in the morning for volleyball practice, to later hear the virus killed the team’s trainer. And after contracting COVID, many more were sent to the ICU for lung support, where a nurse who had warned about a lack of protective gear died of the disease.

We are in the toughest moment since this virus came into our communities, and overcoming this crisis requires an aggressive, cohesive response. State lines, county lines, city lines are nothing more than street names. It takes leadership and all of us — our entire region — to slow the spread.

On Monday, I will share additional public health guidance that is informed and backed by science. While Kansas City will create necessary parameters, fighting this virus will require participation from you. I ask you to act in the best interest of not just yourself, but your entire community.

We must remain diligent and aware of these realities:

▪ This virus is spreading uncontrollably. In the spring, most COVID outbreaks were tied to a single event — a wedding, a funeral, a birthday party. Kansas City Health Director Rex Archer and his team were able to contact trace and isolate individuals present at the site of an outbreak and prevent further spread. Now, uncontrolled spread in your community means the small outbreaks are happening daily in public and private interactions.

The question is not whether COVID-19 will impact you, but when — and how much?

This is why I ask: Please don’t go home for Thanksgiving this year. Think hard about whether you really need to grab that extra drink at a crowded bar. And before you complain about your mask, remember that mother having a baby at the end of the month.

▪ Hospitals are full. Not only does this mean less space to treat COVID-19 patients, but there is less space to treat others needing lifesaving care for other ailments. In October alone, one Kansas City hospital had to turn away 140 transfer patients. That’s a little boy with kidney disease, a friend on dialysis, a mother with a failing heart, a daughter who got into a major car wreck outside of town.

Right now, most of our community spread — nearly 50% of new cases — comes from those in their 20s and 30s. Please remember that while you may be healthy and able to overcome this virus, you could spread it to someone who cannot.

For every precaution you choose to ignore, hundreds of people will continue to suffer the consequences. It is just not worth it.

I will emphasize again as we head into the holiday season: Please wear a mask, avoid large gatherings, wash your hands and stay home.

Your mayor and local governments will remain vigilant. We need you to as well, for the future of all of us in Kansas City.

This story was originally published November 15, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Quinton Lucas: If Kansas City doesn’t take COVID-19 seriously now, we are all at risk."