Sedgwick County says it’s tested 7 for coronavirus; courthouse access to be limited
The day after the first Sedgwick County case of the coronavirus was announced, county officials said they’ve evaluated 20 other patients at their Health Department facility so far, with seven tested and all negative for the virus.
The single case announced Thursday night was the result of testing done by a private physician after the patient, identified only as a woman in her 60s, called in with coronavirus-like symptoms to a local medical clinic.
The total number of patients who have been tested in Sedgwick County is not available.
The county only has full access to data on testing done through its own Health Department, not through local hospitals and other private-sector medical providers. With privately done tests, the county is only notified by the state if there’s a positive result, said Assistant County Manager Tim Kaufman.
For now, the infected patient is confined to her home for recovery and to prevent spreading the virus.
Her test result is considered “presumptive positive,” meaning the state’s laboratory found that she has the COVID-19 virus. That result is being sent to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for final confirmation, Kaufman said.
A ‘soft closing’
Also Friday, the county announced that it is basically closing the courthouse and most other facilities to public access through at least April 5.
County government and courts are cutting their operations to bare-bones essentials as the county struggles to contain the new coronavirus.
County Manager Tom Stolz said base operations will be kept intact, but the public won’t be getting the usual service it’s come to expect.
“I think that in times like this people have to understand . . . we will do the best we can,” Stolz said.
Stolz referred to it as a “soft closing.”
“We will still have staff here, there will still be telephone answering, there will still be e-mail responding, there will still be Internet-types of work going on and appointments can be made in emergency situations face-to-face,” Stolz said.
Essential and emergency employees such as paramedics, firefighters, deputies and health workers will have to stay on the job unless they actually get sick, Stolz said.
Employees who can work from home are already doing that, he said.
That leaves a pool of workers who can’t do their regular jobs without coming to the office, and those who won’t actually have work to do while many routine county functions are suspended during the coronavirus emergency.
Some of those workers will be reassigned to help out with the emergency, doing work such as answering phones for the health department.
For weeks, county health officials have said Sedgwick County is “low risk” for an outbreak because no Sedgwick County resident had tested positive.
At a special meeting Friday, Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell asked county staff to provide the best numbers they had available. That led to Kaufman’s answer of 20 suspected and seven tested.
The county is limiting who they test because of a test-kit supply shortage, Stolz said. The shortage is in the materials used to collect the samples, not laboratory capacity to analyze the tests, he said.
“We do not have enough of these sample kits today to create a more global testing system,” Stolz said at a separate news briefing after the special meeting. “So those samples that we have are priority. We try to keep them reserved for people that truly meet the criteria and who are compromised and for emergency workers who are out every day being exposed to this situation.”
Stolz said he’s working with Sheriff Jeff Easter to find a way to offer additional compensation to the emergency workers who are working through the pandemic. That could include additional pay, help with child care or additional benefits, “just to keep them out there,” Stolz said.
“We are asking our emergency personnel to do an awful lot during this time,” Stolz said.
Trials and jail visits halted
In the courts, jury trials and most other matters are being suspended, said Ellen House, chief court administrator.
The court will continue to have first appearances for people who are arrested. Protection from abuse and stalking orders will continue, although the courts won’t hold the usual hearings on those matters.
“We will be issuing emergency orders that will be effective until the court reopens,” House said.
Judges will still issue warrants and set bail and conditions of release, she said.
Easter said that efforts to reduce the jail population have borne some fruit. Jail population has been reduced from 1,684 to 1,554 since the start of the coronavirus threat, he said.
Easter is trying to clear space in case inmates come down with the virus and need to be isolated.
He also said he has suspended any jail visits. Although face-to-face visits have been eliminated for several years, he’s now also temporarily shutting down the public video-visiting terminals at the jail.
Persons who want to televisit with someone in the jail will still be able to use a private offsite system, however that does cost money, he said.
