Sedgwick County’s COVID cases went up 11.9% over weekend. It’s not due to more testing.

As the number of active coronavirus disease cases continues to rise in Sedgwick County, public health officials have said it is not due to an increase in testing.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 16,901 cases of COVID-19 on Monday, which is a statewide increase of 982 cases or 6.2% over the weekend. The coronavirus pandemic death count increased by three to 280.

The KDHE reported 1,750 cases in Sedgwick County, which is an increase of 186 cases or 11.9% since Friday.

The Sedgwick County Health Department reported 1,597 cases on Monday, which is an increase of 57 from Sunday. Discrepancies between state and local data can be due to delays in reporting between the two public health agencies, officials have said.

There are 830 active cases in the county, which is an increase of 55 from Sunday, which was the first day in two and a half months where active cases outnumbered recoveries. Recoveries increased by two to 739 on Monday. There were no new deaths, keeping the local total at 28.

Of the 57 new cases reported by local authorities, 51 are still under investigation for the source of exposure. Epidemiologists have linked three of the cases to close contacts and another three to community spread. Of the 1,597 total cases in the county, 557 are still being investigated.

On Thursday, public health officer Garold Minns said the increase in cases was hindering the county health department’s work.

“We’re getting to the point where the health department is having trouble contacting all the contacts,” Minns said. “They are still contacting the cases, but contact tracing is getting to the point we don’t have the person power to do it.”

The increase in cases is not due to an increase in testing, health officials have said.

“I can’t give you a scientific reason why the case load is going up so much, but we can verify it’s not due to more testing,” Minns said on Thursday. “Our testing numbers have been pretty stable, so the percentage of positives is going up.”

Testing

The Sedgwick County Health Department reported 33,786 tests have been administered as of Monday, which is an increase of 328 tests from Sunday. There have been 185,318 negative tests in Kansas, which is up 10,581 from Friday, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reports.

The local percentage of tests that come back positive hit a two-month high of 7.53% on the Fourth of July. Saturday is the most recent day with data available on the rolling 14-day average positive test percentage.

The Sedgwick County positive test percentage hit a high of 12% on April 19. 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.

The percentage has steadily increased since then.

The county’s testing rate by population is lower than the statewide testing rate, the KDHE reports.

With 30,020 patients tested in Sedgwick County, the local testing rate is 58.2 people per 1,000 population, according to the KDHE. The statewide testing rate is 69.41 per 1,000 people. Of the 14 counties with at least 100 cases, 11 of them have higher testing rates per population than Sedgwick County.

County comparisons

Cases have been identified in 98 of the 105 counties in Kansas. There are 14 counties with at least 100 cases.

While the Kansas case count increased 6.2% over the weekend, six of the 14 counties had higher percentage changes in their tallies.

The counties with at least 100 confirmed cases are:

• Wyandotte County has 2,655 cases, which is an increase of 102 cases or 3.8%.
• Johnson County has 2,349 cases, which is an increase of 283 cases or 13.7%.
• Ford County has 2,016 cases, which is an increase of one case or 0.05%.
• Sedgwick County has 1,750 cases, which is an increase of 186 cases or 11.9%.
• Finney County has 1,549 cases, which is an increase of three cases or 0.2%.
• Leavenworth County has 1,194 cases, which is an increase of 11 cases or 0.9%.
• Seward County has 1,002 cases, which is an increase of seven cases or 0.7%.
• Shawnee County has 825 cases, which is an increase of 66 cases or 8.7%.
• Lyon County has 501 cases, which is an increase of three cases or 0.6%.
• Douglas County has 354 cases, which is an increase of 103 cases or 41%.
• Riley County has 286 cases, which is an increase of 37 cases or 14.9%.
• Crawford County has 278 cases, which is an increase of 11 cases or 4.1%.
• Saline County has 151 cases, which is an increase of 21 cases or 16.2%.
• Jackson County has 116 cases, which is an increase of one case or 0.9%.

In the Wichita area:

• Sedgwick County has 1,750 cases, which is an increase of 186 cases or 11.9%.
• Reno County has 96 cases, which is an increase of 12 cases or 14.3%.
• Cowley County has 76 cases, which is an increase of three cases or 4.1%.
• Butler County has 71 cases, which is an increase of eight cases or 12.7%.
• Harvey County has 52 cases, which is an increase of seven cases or 15.6%.
• Sumner County has 16 cases, which is an increase of three cases or 23.1%.
• Kingman County has one case, which is an increase of one case.

Deaths and hospitalizations

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 280 deaths on Monday, which is an increase of three over the weekend. The Sedgwick County Health Department reported 28 deaths. The local death count has not changed since June 25.

The youngest Kansan to die with COVID-19 as the cause or a significant contributor of death was 29 years old. The oldest was 99 and the median age of deceased patients is 79.

Patients in the 85 and older age group account for more deaths than any other age group. The 101 deaths in that group account for about 36% of the state’s total.

The death rate per population for Black Kansans is more than triple the rate for any other race.

About 1.7% of known cases in Kansas have ended with death.

There have been 1,235 hospitalizations statewide, which is up 16 from Friday. About 7.3% of all patients have needed hospital care.

There have been 384 intensive care unit admissions and 158 patients required mechanical ventilation. There have been at least 859 discharges, though there may have been additional discharges that haven’t been reported to state officials.

Older patients diagnosed with COVID-19 are more likely to be hospitalized, KDHE data shows. In Kansas, about 32% of patients ages 65-74 have been hospitalized. That number is about 44% for patients ages 75-84 and about 40% for ages 85 and older.

Less than 5% of Kansas patients younger than 35 years old are hospitalized.

The state reported three new hospitalizations and no additional discharges over the weekend in Sedgwick County. There have been 139 hospital admissions with 35 ICU admissions and nine patients on mechanical ventilation, according to the KDHE. There have been at least 80 discharges. About 11% of the local hospital admissions have been patients under the age of 35.

The Sedgwick County Health Department reported 12 new hospital admissions last week and two new discharges for the week of June 28 to July 4. There have now been a total of 156 hospital admissions and 117 discharges, according to the county’s statistics. The difference between admissions and discharges is 39.

The difference between hospitalizations and discharges grew by 16 over the past week as more people were hospitalized and numbers for previous weeks were revised up. The value derived from the county’s data had been 23 at the start of last week.

County officials have suggested that the difference between hospital admissions and discharges is not an accurate measure of how many patients are currently hospitalized. However, county officials have also said they do not know how many patients are currently hospitalized.

Minns, the county health officer, said Thursday that he didn’t know the exact number of hospitalizations, but there’s “quite a few” and that it is in “the upper 20s.” He said there has been “a slight shift to a younger population of people in the hospital, but there’s still older people in there, too.”

Minns said hospital officials are concerned about the trajectory in cases. While the hospital capacity is unknown, Minns added that having enough staff would be a greater issue than having enough beds if there were a larger local surge in hospitalizations.

The county’s dashboard says the area hospital status assessment is “good” with a green check mark. Minns said he doesn’t know why the status is “good” when hospital officials have expressed concerns.

County Commissioner Lacey Cruse said commissioners received an email Thursday stating that Wesley Medical Center had 12-plus cases in the hospital and Ascension Via Christi had 15. No information was provided on other medical facilities, such as the Veterans Affairs hospital.

Coronavirus clusters

The KDHE reported 14 new coronavirus clusters on Monday, putting the state’s total at 235. Of that number, 118 are still active. The increase is from Wednesday as Friday’s report did not included cluster information.

Outbreaks have been identified at five more gatherings, four more nursing homes, three more private businesses, one more sporting event and one more health care facility.

Clusters account for 6,610 cases and 210 deaths, or about 39% of all Kansas cases and 75% of all deaths.

Outbreaks at long-term care facilities are responsible for more than half of the people who have died from COVID-19 in the state. The 57 nursing home clusters account for 986 cases and 164 deaths.

Meatpacking plants account for nearly one-fifth of all cases in the state. The 12 outbreaks are responsible for 3,197 cases and 16 deaths.

There are more outbreaks in private industry than any other category. The 98 clusters account for 826 cases and six deaths.

Correctional facilities account for four clusters, 1,026 cases and seven deaths. Four outbreaks at daycares or schools have had 17 cases. There have been 34 clusters at gatherings, which includes religious and other gatherings, accounting for 362 cases and 14 deaths. Group homes account for 10 clusters with 87 cases and three deaths. Health care facilities have had 11 outbreaks with 76 cases. Five sporting event clusters have had 33 cases.

Sedgwick County health officials did not report any new clusters on Monday, keeping the total at 18. Seven of the clusters have closed.

There have been local outbreaks at nine nursing homes, five businesses, three religious institutions and one correctional facility. The clusters account for 25 of the county’s 28 deaths.