Sedgwick County has most COVID-19 patients hospitalized since pandemic hit Wichita area

Local public health officials report that last week ended with the most COVID-19 patients hospitalized of any week since the coronavirus pandemic hit the Wichita area.

The Sedgwick County Health Department’s COVID-19 dashboard for Sunday showed increases in several categories from Saturday’s report. There were 15 new cases, nine new recoveries and no new deaths. There were six new active cases.

There have been 882 total cases, 563 recoveries and 25 deaths in the county. There are 294 active cases.

There have been 24,091 people tested, which is an increase of 612. The chart showing the 14-day average percentage of tests that come back positive was not updated on Sunday.

Although the health department’s dashboard states the area hospital status assessment is “good,” hospitalizations have grown for the fourth consecutive week.

There were seven new hospitalizations reported last week while two patients were discharged. There have now been a total of 126 patients hospitalized and 102 have been discharged, meaning there are 24 Sedgwick County residents hospitalized with COVID-19. That is the most at any point since the pandemic reached the Wichita area.

The week after March 19, when the first case of coronavirus was announced in Sedgwick County, ended with 11 people in the hospital. There had been 14 admissions and three discharges during that time.

The number of people hospitalized at the end of each week grew to as much as 19 — for the weeks ending on April 11 and April 18 — before dropping back to 11 for the week ending May 23.

The following week, Gov. Laura Kelly ended her statewide phased-in approach to reopening the Kansas economy with mandatory restrictions. The Sedgwick County Commission has opted not to require any measures its public health expert has recommended.

Since that time, the number of active cases has more than doubled and the positive testing percentage has approximately quadrupled. The latest hospitalization data shows the number of local COVID-19 patients in hospitals at the end of each week has now more than doubled since all restrictions were lifted.

The same week that the state and local economies reopened without restrictions, new hospitalizations started growing faster than discharges. By the week ending June 13, it tied the previous peak of 19. It increased to 24 patients hospitalized at the end of last week.

Hospitalization data is updated weekly to ensure accurate data is reported, officials say.

Of the 15 new cases reported on Sunday, epidemiologists determined four had close contact with another confirmed case, one was travel-related and 10 are under investigation. No new clusters were identified, keeping the tally at 13.

Indicators for personal protective equipment of Sedgwick County first responders and medical facilities show a relative shortage of medical nitrile gloves, of which there is less than a three-week supply. There is less than a five-week supply of surgical gowns. There is more than a five-week supply of N95 masks, surgical masks, Tyvek coveralls and the health department’s testing materials.