Kansas City region is home to two of the biggest coronavirus clusters in the U.S.
The Kansas City region is home to two of the largest clusters of coronavirus cases in the United States, according to an analysis of outbreaks across the country.
Among the top U.S. clusters of the virus, Lansing Correctional Facility is the 13th biggest while the Triumph Foods meat processing facility in St. Joseph is the 20th largest, according to data maintained by The New York Times.
Correctional facilities make up more than half of the top 20 localized outbreaks of COVID-19, the Times’ data shows. At the top of the list Tuesday was the Marion Correctional Institution in Ohio, which has been connected to 2,439 cases.
At the Lansing prison, 694 inmates had tested positive for the virus as of Monday, including 598 who were asymptomatic, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections. Three incarcerated people have died.
The virus has also infected 88 staff members, including 61-year-old George “Bernie” Robare, who died Monday. His wife, Susan Robare, is pleading with people to take the virus seriously.
“Unless they have somebody affected by this, they have no clue,” she told The Star. “They have no clue how it’s destroying lives.”
The prison is located within an hour drive of Triumph Foods in Missouri’s Buchanan County, where testing has revealed 412 of 2,367 workers had the virus despite showing no symptoms.
Residents across the metro, in Wyandotte County and Kansas City, were among the infected workers. The cases found at the food plant increased the metro’s numbers because the people tested are counted in the county where they live.
As of Tuesday, health officials in the metro area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas have identified 3,038 cases, including 150 deaths.
Federal documents recently obtained by NBC News identified Kansas City as a “location to watch” because of increasing cases.
As of Monday, Kansas had 7,116 cases including 158 deaths. On Tuesday, Missouri confirmed 10,006 cases including 524 deaths.
Nationwide, more than 1.3 million people have contracted the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The Star’s Katie Bernard contributed to this report.
This story was originally published May 12, 2020 at 4:25 PM with the headline "Kansas City region is home to two of the biggest coronavirus clusters in the U.S.."
