Kelly restricts public gatherings to no more than 10 to combat coronavirus spread

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said Monday she will impose a ten-person cap on gatherings beginning Tuesday, but ruled out a statewide stay-at-home order issued by a dozen other state chief executives.

Her executive order rescinds the directive of a week ago, limiting groups to 50.

Kelly said at a press briefing that stay-at-home orders will be left up to county leadership, since 89 of the state’s 105 counties do not have a confirmed positive COVID-19 case.

“The crisis continues to evolve by the hour and a state-wide stay-at-home order may indeed become unavoidable in the coming days,” Kelly said.

Johnson, Miami, Wyandotte, Leavenworth, Douglas and Doniphan counties have issued stay-at-home orders to help prevent the spread.

California, Illinois, New York, Ohio, West Virginia and Delaware are among the states under stay-at-home orders.

Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Lee Norman announced Monday afternoon the state’s testing strategy would shift as well.

Healthcare workers and first responders who may have been exposed to the virus will be prioritized. Hospitalized patients with unknown respiratory illnesses, individuals over 60 who live in large -group settings, and those with underlying health conditions will also be prioritized.

“We’re refining the diagnostic criteria just a little bit in order to test more strategically,” Norman said.

Norman, who announced Friday that Kansas was running “precariously low” on test kits and nasal swabs, said the situation has improved. About 500 more test kits came in on Saturday, Norman said. Colleges and university research labs have also provided another 200 test kits.

“We’re pretty stable this week,” Norman said.

There are 82 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Kansas. Two of them have been fatal.

Forty-seven of the cases have been tested by private labs, and 35 were tested by KDHE.

“The reason I point that out is that we have not had enough testing material to do everything that we need to do in the state of Kansas, and the commercial labs in Kansas have stepped up,” Norman said.

This story was originally published March 23, 2020 at 3:47 PM with the headline "Kelly restricts public gatherings to no more than 10 to combat coronavirus spread."