Kansas passes 5,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 134 coronavirus-related deaths

Public health officials report that more than 5,000 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Kansas.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s coronavirus pandemic report on Sunday listed 5,030 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 134 deaths statewide. The KDHE reported 399 cases in Sedgwick County. The Sedgwick County Health Department reported 426 cases and 13 deaths.

Discrepancies between county and state numbers can be due to confirmed cases from one health department not yet being finalized with the other, officials have said.

The Kansas case count is an increase of 284 from Saturday, when the KDHE reported 4,746 cases. The death count rose by three from 131. While the KDHE reported 391 cases in Sedgwick County, the health department reported 418 and 12 coronavirus-related deaths.

The Sedgwick County Health Department reports that 235 local patients have recovered. Of all the local patients who have tested positive, epidemiologists determined about 61% had close contact with another confirmed case. About 25% of patients are believed to have been infected by community spread. About 9% of cases are travel-related, and about 4% of cases are under investigation.

As of Sunday, there have been 31,748 negative tests in the state, the KDHE reported. Sedgwick County has had 4,462 tests administered, for a local testing rate of 8.65 people per 1,000 population. Sedgwick County has the lowest testing rate of the nine counties with at least 100 confirmed cases.

In the Wichita area, Reno County has 40 cases, Butler County has 16, Harvey County has eight, Sumner County has four, Cowley County has two and Kingman County has zero.

At least 547 COVID-19 patients have been hospitalized in Kansas, but data is not available in all cases. Of the hospitalizations, 209 patients were admitted into intensive care and 95 needed mechanical ventilation.

Patients in Kansas, both hospitalized and non-hospitalized, range in age from infant to 99 years old. The average age is 45 and the median is 43. Patients who have died range in age from 42 to 99 with a median of 82.

In cases where race and ethnicity information is available, the data shows black or African American, Asian and Hispanic or Latino communities continue to be disproportionately hit by the disease.

This story was originally published May 3, 2020 at 12:50 PM.