Coronavirus updates: COVID-19 deaths in Kansas tied with flu deaths at 136
The novel coronavirus has now killed as many people in Kansas in two months as the seasonal flu has in eight months, public health records show.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment on Monday reported 136 deaths attributed to COVID-19 and 136 deaths attributed to seasonal influenza. The coronavirus death count was an increase of two from Sunday. The flu death count had no change from the previous week.
The KDHE’s daily coronavirus pandemic update listed 5,245 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state, with 409 of those in Sedgwick County. Local public health officials report 13 people have died in Sedgwick County.
The KDHE’s weekly influenza surveillance report showed that as of Monday, the flu was the direct cause of death for 110 patients and a contributing cause in another 26 cases. The 136 influenza deaths for the 2019-20 flu season has already surpassed the 97 people who died in the last flu season, which runs from Sept. 1 to May 31.
The World Health Organization director general has said that coronavirus causes a more severe disease than seasonal influenza and the death rate of infected patients is much higher. Additionally, there are vaccines and treatments for the flu, but not for COVID-19.
The coronavirus report showed that statewide, 215 more positive tests were reported on Monday. There have been 33,358 negative tests in the state.
Sedgwick County has had 4,716 tests administered, and the local testing rate is 9.14 people per 1,000 population. The testing rate is the lowest of the nine counties with at least 100 confirmed cases.
The other eight counties are Wyandotte County with 879 cases, Ford County with 832, Seward County with 580, Leavenworth County with 529, Johnson County with 504, Finney County with 498, Lyon County with 255 and Shawnee County with 128.
The Sedgwick County Health Department reports 436 cases, an increase of 10 from Sunday, while the KDHE reports 409 cases in the county. 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.
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.
Statewide, 553 people have been hospitalized. There have been 209 patients admitted into intensive care units, and 95 have required mechanical ventilation. Of the hospitalized patients, 291 have been discharged.
The COVID-19 patients in Kansas, both hospitalized and not hospitalized, range in age from infant to 99 years old. The median is 43 and the average is 45. In cases with deaths, patients 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 affected by the disease.
This story was originally published May 4, 2020 at 12:31 PM.