No new COVID-19 deaths in Sedgwick County in two weeks as cases continue to rise

Sedgwick County has gone two weeks without any new COVID-19 deaths, even as other indicators of the coronavirus pandemic are rising in the Wichita area.

The Sedgwick County Health Department’s COVID-19 dashboard showed 28 deaths as of Thursday. The death count has not changed since June 25, the same day the county passed 1,000 total cases.

In that same time span, total cases have increased 79% to 1,792; recoveries have increased 29% to 805; active cases have increased 175% to 959; and the number of people tested has increased 36% to 35,823. The positive test percentage increased from 4.28% to 8.61% as of Wednesday, which is the most recent data available.

The increases compare Thursday’s data on the county’s online dashboard with the county’s June 25 data as previously reported by The Eagle.

Thursday’s numbers were increases of 89 new cases, 20 new recoveries, 69 more active cases and 1,075 more tests from Wednesday’s report.

Of the 89 new cases, 86 are still under investigation for the source of exposure. The other three cases are people who had been in close contact with another confirmed COVID-19 patient, epidemiologists determined.

With Thursday’s increase, the “under investigation” category now has more cases than any other category at about 39% of the county’s 1,792 cases. The close contact category has about 38%, community spread is about 19% and travel-related is about 4%.

One more cluster at a business was reported, bringing the total number of coronavirus clusters in the county to 19. There have been outbreaks at nine nursing homes, six businesses, three religious institutions and one correctional facility.

Demographic information shows people younger than 40 account for the majority of cases. The 20-39 age group accounts for about 40% of all cases while the infant to 19-year-old group makes up about 13%.

The 40-59 group is about 27% of cases, the 60-79 group is about 14% and the 80 and older group is about 6%.

Racial information is available in about three-quarters of cases. Black people have a rate of confirmed cases compared to population about 28% higher than that of white people.

The county dashboard also displays indicators of personal protective equipment supplies. The supply of medical nitrile gloves is running the lowest with less than a three-week supply. Surgical gowns have less than a five-week supply.

New hospitalization information is not reported daily. There were 32 COVID-19 patients in Wichita hospitals as of Monday, with 10 of those in intensive care units. The area hospital status assessment was changed on Wednesday to “moderate” with a yellow exclamation point.

A county spokesperson told The Eagle on Thursday that there is no specific list of criteria for determining the hospital status. The county manager decides the status after speaking with hospital officials about the situation.