Sedgwick County passes 3,000 cases of COVID-19 with 13.3% weekend increase, KDHE says

Sedgwick County has had more than 3,000 cases of COVID-19 since the coronavirus pandemic hit the Wichita area, state health officials report. The mark was broken as county officials reported a record-high positive test percentage.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 3,162 cases of COVID-19 in Sedgwick County on Monday. There was a jump of 372 new cases over the weekend, an increase of 13.3%.

The KDHE listed 23,334 cases in Kansas, a statewide increase of 1,369 cases or 6.2% from Friday’s report. The death count increased by eight to 307. Cumulative hospitalizations increased by 44 to 1,497. There were 10,809 more negative tests, putting the state’s total at 238,197.

The KDHE does not report recoveries or active cases.

The Sedgwick County Health Department reported 2,766 cases on Monday.

Discrepancies in the Sedgwick County case totals between the state and local health departments can be due to a delay in reporting between the agencies. Additionally, local officials only report COVID-19 cases confirmed through a nasopharyngeal test, while the KDHE case report includes nasopharyngeal tests, antibody tests and people under investigation, according to the county health department.

Reports from the KDHE come out on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays. The Sedgwick County Health Department updates its online COVID-19 dashboard every day.

The 2,766 total confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease reported by Sedgwick County public health officials was an increase of 129 from Sunday. Active cases increased by 116 in one day, putting the number at 1,671. Recoveries increased by 13 to 1,063. No new deaths were reported, keeping the number at 32.

Updated hospitalization numbers from the county were not immediately available Monday afternoon. The KDHE’s 1,497 hospitalizations have included 439 admissions to intensive care units and 162 patients on mechanical ventilation. At least 1,016 patients have been discharged from hospitals.

The KDHE reports that there are 895 ICU beds, of which 595 are in use. Of those, 111 are filled with COVID-19 patients. About 34% of the state’s ICU beds are available. There are 831 ventilators, of which 96 are in use (21 are being used by COVID-19 patients). About 88% of the state’s ventilators are available.

The statistics were current as of Wednesday and do not include the five most recent days.

The county broke a three-month-old record for highest positive test percentage, according to local reports. The rolling 14-day average of the percentage of tests that come back positive was listed at 12.17% for Sunday, the most recent day with data available. The previous record was 12.06% set on April 19.

Sunday’s number was an increase of more than a full percentage point from Saturday’s number, which was 11.13%.

Public health experts have said the rising positive test percentage indicates that the increase in cases is due to spread of the virus, not an increase in testing capability. The number was above 10% for most of April before declining in May to a low of less than 1% on May 26 and May 27.

The state and local economies were reopened without pandemic restrictions on those days, and the positive test percentage has risen ever since.

An additional 587 Sedgwick County residents were tested for the virus between Sunday and Monday, putting the local total at 45,147 people tested.

Of the 129 new cases reported by county officials, 18 were in the infant to 19-year-old age group, bringing the group’s total to 374 cases. The 20-39 age group increased by 59 cases to 1,152. The 40-59 age group increased by 37 to 762 cases. The 60-79 age group increased by 13 to 348. The 80 and older group increased by two to 130.

Epidemiologists have connected one of the new cases to a close contact of the patient who also had the disease. The other 128 cases are still under investigation for the source of exposure.

County comparisons

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reports that cases have been identified in 102 of the state’s 105 counties. The three counties without a case are all in northwest Kansas.

There are now 23 counties with at least 100 cases, an increase of three from Friday. Cowley, Montgomery and Pottawatomie counties were the new additions.

At 372 new cases, Sedgwick County had the biggest increase in cases of any county. Sedgwick County alone accounted for about 27% of the statewide increase. The state’s second-largest county has about 18% of the state’s population.

The COVID-19 case count in Kansas increased by 1,369 over the weekend, a percentage change of 6.2%. Eleven counties out of the 23 with at least 100 cases had a larger percentage change.

Among those 11 were five of the Wichita-area counties: Butler, Cowley, Harvey, Reno and Sedgwick.

There were two counties in Kansas with case increases that amounted to less than a 1% change. Those were Ford and Finney counties.

The 23 Kansas counties with at least 100 cases of COVID-19:

• Johnson County has 3,933 cases, an increase of 279 cases or 7.6%.
• Wyandotte County has 3,825 cases, an increase of 222 cases or 6.2%.
• Sedgwick County has 3,162 cases, an increase of 372 cases or 13.3%.
• Ford County has 2,061 cases, an increase of eight cases or 0.4%.
• Finney County has 1,591 cases, an increase of 13 cases or 0.8%.
• Leavenworth County has 1,306 cases, an increase of 32 cases or 2.5%.
• Shawnee County has 1,205 cases, an increase of 59 cases or 5.1%.
• Seward County has 1,059 cases, an increase of 12 cases or 1.1%.
• Lyon County has 552 cases, an increase of 12 cases or 2.2%.
• Douglas County has 537 cases, an increase of 33 cases or 6.5%.
• Riley County has 371 cases, an increase of 11 cases or 3.1%.
• Crawford County has 351 cases, an increase of 19 cases or 5.7%.
• Saline County has 281 cases, an increase of 34 cases or 13.8%.
• Reno County has 175 cases, an increase of 20 cases or 12.9%.
• Geary County has 145 cases, an increase of six cases or 4.3%.
• Butler County has 139 cases, an increase of 15 cases or 12.1%.
• Jackson County has 130 cases, an increase of five cases or 4%.
• Harvey County has 119 cases, an increase of 11 cases or 10.2%.
• Cowley County has 118 cases, an increase of 21 cases or 21.6%.
• Franklin County has 118 cases, an increase of 16 cases or 15.7%.
• McPherson County has 108 cases, an increase of seven cases or 6.9%.
• Pottawatomie County has 102 cases, an increase of four cases or 4.1%.
• Montgomery County has 102 cases, an increase of 28 cases or 37.8%.

Coronavirus clusters

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported eight more coronavirus clusters on Monday, bringing the statewide total to 292. The mass outbreaks account for 7,160 cases of COVID-19 and 228 deaths, or about 31% of all cases and about 74% of all deaths in the state.

Of the 292 clusters, 129 are still active.

The number of clusters increased by four nursing homes, three businesses and two group homes. One of those outbreaks was reclassified from a gathering, which had its cluster count drop by one.

Nursing home outbreaks are responsible for about 59% of all deaths in Kansas. The 75 clusters at long-term care facilities account for 1,120 cases and 180 deaths.

There have been more cases at meatpacking plants than any other cluster category. The 12 meatpacking plant clusters account for 3,228 cases and 17 deaths.

The private business cluster category has more outbreaks than any other. The 112 clusters at businesses account for 904 cases and six deaths.

The five clusters at correctional facilities account for 1,029 cases and seven deaths. The 48 clusters at gatherings account for 570 cases and 15 deaths. The 12 clusters at group homes account for 131 cases and three deaths.

Three cluster categories have not been linked to any deaths. The 10 clusters at daycares or schools account for 40 cases. The 13 clusters at health care facilities account for 89 cases. The five clusters at sporting events account for 49 cases.

The Sedgwick County Health Department did not report any new clusters on Monday. There have been 21 clusters in the county, 13 of which are still active. Nine were at nursing homes, eight were at businesses, three were at religious institutions and one was at a state prison.

The Sedgwick County clusters are responsible for 27 of the county’s 32 deaths.

This story was originally published July 20, 2020 at 12:24 PM.