Church coronavirus clusters identified in Sedgwick County amid mass gathering confusion

Local public health officials say that coronavirus clusters have been found in Wichita-area churches as state politicians debate restrictions on religious gatherings ahead of Easter Sunday.

“During the course of our investigations, we have identified clusters, including in churches,” said Kaylee Hervey, the epidemiology program manager for the Sedgwick County Health Department. “And in those clusters, we have identified individuals at risk and are monitoring them.”

Details on the clusters have not been made available to the general public.

“If we deem that the public would be at risk for a cluster, we would release all that information,” Hervey said. “The ones that we have identified, we have worked with the organizations involved to make sure that the people at risk were notified.

“If somebody was involved or potentially at risk for a cluster, they would be aware of that.”

The public would be considered at risk if a lot of unknown people from a group were connected to a cluster, and the health department would advise people who were at the location during a certain time to monitor themselves for symptoms. When the cluster involves a known organization with a known population, Sedgwick County officials will generally avoid releasing information, Hervey said.

Clusters are identified when multiple patients name the same location as a place they had been prior to feeling ill. The health department then provides the organization with information to give its members, including that they may be at risk, could develop symptoms and should stay home. General advice is included, such as to socially distance yourself, cover your cough and wash your hands.

Statewide, 1,106 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed with 161 patients in Sedgwick County. The pandemic has led to the deaths of 42 people in Kansas, including two Sedgwick County residents and one from Sumner County and one from Cowley County.

Lee Norman, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment has previously said that three of the state’s 12 case clusters stem from church gatherings. One of them was a ministers’ conference in Wyandotte County last month, another occurred in Sedgwick County, he said. Norman hasn’t divulged information about the third.

The confirmed coronavirus clusters at religious institutions come as confusion has followed a decision by Kansas Republican leaders in the Legislature on Wednesday to revoke an executive order issued by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly that limited religious gatherings to 10 people.

The governor has said she thinks the action repealed her entire ban on mass gatherings. Attorney General Derek Schmidt has said he believes the rest of her ban on mass gatherings is still in effect.

With the state order revoked, the local order in Sedgwick County is back in effect, county officials said. It does not have an exemption for churches, synagogues, mosques, temples or other religious institutions.

“This order specifically limits all public gatherings to groups of 10 or fewer people, including in-person religious services,” county spokeswoman Kate Flavin said in a statement.

Sedgwick County officials have said that “drive-in church services” are allowed during the coronavirus pandemic, as long as certain rules are followed.

People may park vehicles in every other space in a church parking lot as a minister leads outdoor services with a microphone or a radio signal. No one is allowed to leave a vehicle. Bathrooms cannot be open, and communal gatherings are not allowed.

Jonathan Shorman of The Wichita Eagle contributed to this story.

This story was originally published April 10, 2020 at 9:35 AM.