Active cases pass COVID-19 recoveries for the first time in months in Sedgwick County

The number of active COVID-19 cases in Sedgwick County has passed the number of recoveries for the first time in months, public health data shows.

The local active case count hit 775 on Sunday — a 183% increase over the past two weeks — passing the 737 recoveries reported by the Sedgwick County Health Department.

Total cases and active cases reported by the health agency both rose by 41 from Saturday. For the third day in a row, no new recoveries were reported. No new deaths have been reported since June 25, which was the same day the county passed 1,000 total cases.

There have been 28 local deaths attributed to COVID-19, the health department’s online coronavirus dashboard shows. There has been a total of 1,540 cases in the county. Hospitalization data for the past week was not released on Sunday.

Of the 41 new cases, epidemiologists have determined two patients had close contact with another confirmed case. The 39 other cases remain under investigation for the sources of exposure to the virus.

An analysis of Sedgwick County case counts by The Eagle shows that Sunday’s jump in active cases is the first time since April 19 that active cases outnumbered recoveries in the Wichita area. On that day, there were 142 active cases and 138 recoveries. For the next 76 days, recoveries outpaced active cases.

April 19 was also the highest peak in the trend for positive test percentage. The rolling 14-day average percentage of coronavirus tests that come back positive for COVID-19 was 12% that day. It stayed above 10% through May 2, then dropped below 1% on May 26 and May 27, when the state and local economies were reopened without pandemic restrictions.

That percentage has since climbed to 6.75% as of Friday, which is the most recent day with data available.

There have been a total of 33,458 tests administered in the county. The number increased by 707 on Sunday.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment does not report new statistics on Sundays.