Gov. Kelly calls out Sedgwick County coronavirus response, points to rise in cases
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Monday criticized Sedgwick County commissioners for their hands-off approach to reopening the local economy and lifting restrictions designed to prevent spread of coronavirus COVID-19.
Sedgwick County was one of 13 Kansas counties where COVID-19 cases are on the rise, indicated by red upward arrows on a large map of the state displayed by Kelly and Dr. Lee Norman, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
“Take a look here at Sedgwick County,” Kelly said, pointing at the map. “Their (county) commissioners chose to stop enforcing social distancing guidelines on May 27th.
“Last Friday, Sedgwick County reported 215 active cases, which is the highest number of cases the county has reported. This is not a coincidence.”
Sedgwick County’s active cases have almost doubled since the commission lifted restrictions, climbing from 122 to 240, according to the county’s COVID-19 dashboard.
Kelly said such indifferent responses to the coronavirus and the threat it poses to public health could threaten the recovery and the reopening of school buildings in the fall.
“For communities that have followed the guidelines, encouraged the use of masks, the mitigation efforts have worked,” Kelly said. “If we do not treat this threat seriously, more lives will be lost. It will halt the reopening of our economy and prevent our children from returning to school.”
Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell said he thinks the county’s numbers are up because it has more testing available.
“What you have to look at is hospitalization numbers, which are down,” O’Donnell said. “I believe we have 12 cases in the hospital right now, which is down from last week, ... and I’m not even sure all of those patients are from Sedgwick County. We have some people who come to our hospitals from other counties.
“Lifting these restrictions, we haven’t seen these huge spikes. We’re three weeks past Memorial Day, and the fact that we made it this far without seeing these dramatic increases, I think is really positive for Sedgwick County,” he said.
O’Donnell said he thinks Sedgwick County should focus its attention on protecting nursing home residents, which will keep the county’s overall COVID-19 cases and deaths down. At least 80% of COVID-19 related deaths are associated with four long-term-care facility clusters, along with 131 of the county’s 764 cases.
“I do believe we need to evaluate that problem and come up with a solution where we can make nursing homes and long-term care facilities a more safe environment while allowing the rest of the population to enjoy life without these arbitrary restrictions the governor has imposed over these last few months,” O’Donnell said.
Other counties with red arrows on the COVID-19 map included Butler and Reno counties, which abut Sedgwick County.
Wyandotte, Leavenworth and Johnson counties in northeast Kansas, once hotspots for coronavirus, had green arrows indicating a downtrend in cases.
So did the western Kansas counties of Ford, Finney and Seward, which had big problems with the virus in meat packing plants.
Norman reported that as of Monday, Kansas has seen 11,419 cases of COVID-19 infection, up 352 since Friday.
He also said 245 people have died, up two over the weekend.
Contributing: Chance Swaim of The Wichita Eagle
This story was originally published June 15, 2020 at 6:11 PM.
