Kansas COVID-19 cases increase by 233, but no new deaths in coronavirus pandemic

Public health officials reported 233 new cases of COVID-19 and no new deaths in Kansas on Sunday amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s daily coronavirus update listed 6,984 cases of COVID-19 and 157 deaths in the state. Sedgwick County has 451 cases, an increase of 12. Cases have been reported in 82 of the state’s 105 counties.

The KDHE counts include probable cases. There are four probable COVID-19 cases in Sedgwick County. It is unclear how many cases statewide are probable as of Sunday, but there were 70 probable cases on Friday.

Probable cases are defined as someone who has symptoms and has been linked to a confirmed COVID-19 patient.

The Sedgwick County Health Department reports 468 cases — an increase of 10 — and 19 deaths. Discrepancies between county and state numbers can arise when confirmed cases from one health department have not yet been finalized with the other, officials have said.

Of the 468 cases, epidemiologists have determined about 62% had close contact with another confirmed case, about 26% are likely community spread, about 9% are travel-related and about 4% are under investigation.

Epidemiologists have determined there are nine coronavirus clusters in the county, including outbreaks at three long-term care facilities, three businesses and three religious centers. Government officials have publicly identified the three nursing homes and one of the businesses.

The nursing homes are Clearwater Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, 620 Wood; Chisholm Place, 1859 N. Webb; and The Manor Nursing Home at Park West, 505 N. Maize. The business is the Mel Hambelton Ford dealership and service center at Kellogg and 119th Street West.

As of Friday, when the county coronavirus death count was 18, residents of the Clearwater nursing home accounted for about 44% of deaths in Sedgwick County. The trio of nursing homes accounted for about 83% of the deaths. As of Thursday, residents and staff of the facilities accounted for about 27% of the cases.

Statewide, there have been at least 657 hospitalizations, though KDHE hospitalization data is only available in approximately 64% of cases. Of those hospitalized, 231 patients have been admitted into intensive care unites and 101 have required mechanical ventilation. There have been 371 patients discharged from hospitals.

In Sedgwick County, at least 79 patients have been hospitalized and at least 50 have been discharged. However, no hospitalization data for the county is available after April 25, which was two weeks ago. County officials say there is a week delay in hospitalization data reporting to ensure accuracy.

There have been 274 local patients who have recovered. A person is considered to have recovered from COVID-19 if symptoms have been gone for three days or if symptoms started a week ago, whichever is longer.

Coronavirus patients in Kansas range in age from infant to 100 years old. The average age is 44 and the median is 42.

The youngest patient to die of COVID-19 in the state was 36 years old. The oldest was 99, and the median is 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. Race and ethnicity data are available in about 76% of cases.

There have been 45,557 negative tests in Kansas.

Of the nine counties with at least 100 confirmed cases, Sedgwick County has the lowest testing rate. There have been 6,343 tests for a local testing rate of 12.29 people per 1,000 population.

The other eight are Ford County with 1,102 cases, Wyandotte County with 1,087, Leavenworth County with 920, Finney County with 883, Seward County with 686, Johnson County with 598, Lyon County with 330 and Shawnee County with 160.

In the Wichita area, Reno County has 53 cases, Butler County has 17, Harvey County has 10, Sumner County has four, Cowley County has two and Kingman County has zero.

There are more than 1.3 million cases in the United States and more than 79,000 deaths.

Indicators for personal protective equipment supplies in Sedgwick County show first responders and medical facilities are running low on surgical gowns and medical nitrile gloves, of which there is less than a three-week supply. There is less than a five-week supply of Tyvek coveralls. There is more than a five-week supply of N95 masks and surgical masks.