Kansas reports 770 new COVID-19 cases in two days. More than 25% were in Sedgwick County

More than one-quarter of the 770 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Kansas on Wednesday were in Sedgwick County, state statistics show.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s coronavirus pandemic report for Wednesday listed 24,104 cases of COVID-19, an increase of 770 cases over two days or a percent change of 3.3%. Sedgwick County has 3,368 of those cases, an increase of 206 cases or 6.5% since Monday.

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 state reported one more death, or an increase of 0.3%, bringing the COVID-19 death toll to 308. Another 48 patients were hospitalized, bringing the total to 1,545 hospitalizations, an increase of 3.2%.

There have been 244,582 negative tests in the state, which was an increase of 6,385 or 2.7%.

Sedgwick County reported 2,918 confirmed cases on Wednesday, compared with the 3,368 cases reported by the KDHE. A graph from the state agency lists 3,341 confirmed cases in the county.

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 that are confirmed through a nasopharyngeal test while the KDHE case count 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 county’s case count was an increase of 91 from Tuesday’s report. With no new deaths and 32 additional recoveries, the active case count rose by 59.

There are now 1,781 active cases in Sedgwick County, with 33 deaths and 1,104 recoveries. The number of local people tested by the county totals 46,380 after an increase of 754 tests.

The KDHE does not report recoveries or active cases.

Of the 91 new cases in the county, 85 are still under investigation for the source of exposure to the virus. Epidemiologists have determined that five of the cases were infected by a close contact and one person was infected through community spread.

More than half of all the cases in the county — 1,668 — have no known exposure source.

The 20-39 age group accounts for nearly half of the 91 new cases in the county. It has 43 new cases, increasing its total to 1,215.

The infant to 19-year-old age group added 13 cases, putting its total at 397. The 40-59 age group increased by 20 to 802. The 60-79 age group increased by 14 to 372. The 80 and older group increased by one to 132.

The KDHE reported a statewide positive test percentage of 9.9% for Tuesday.

Sedgwick County reported a positive test percentage of 12.12% on Tuesday. The county’s graph shows it as an increase from 11.7% on Monday. The county’s percentages are a rolling 14-day average. The rising positive test rate indicates that cases are increasing because the virus is spreading, not because testing capabilities have increased, officials have said.

The state reported that 81.6 people per 1,000 population have been tested in Sedgwick County. That population testing rate is lower than the statewide rate of 92.23 per 1,000.

Deaths and hospitalizations

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment listed 308 total deaths statewide on Wednesday. The youngest patient to die was 29 years old and the oldest was 99. The median age is 78.

Comparatively, the median age of Kansans diagnosed with COVID-19 is 37. The average is 39 with an age range of infant to 103 years old.

More men than women have died of the disease. The gender gap is 55% men to 45% women.

Black or African Americans have a COVID-19 death rate per population more than three times that of any other race. People of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity have a higher death rate per population than people of other ethnic groups.

The KDHE’s 1,545 hospitalizations have included 450 admissions to intensive care units and 164 patients on mechanical ventilation. At least 1,050 patients have been discharged from hospitals. Those statistics are cumulative since the pandemic hit Kansas.

The state’s hospitalization numbers may be under-counted as about 37% of cases have no hospitalization information available.

There were 365 coronavirus disease patients in Kansas hospitals as of Tuesday, the state reported.

Sedgwick County reported 58 coronavirus hospitalizations as of 11 a.m. Monday. At that time, 31 COVID-19 patients were in the ICU. With 208 total ICU beds and 182 of those occupied by general patients and coronavirus patients, 26 ICU beds were available in Wichita.

The county updates hospitalization data only on Mondays.

The KDHE reported that there are 939 total ICU beds in the state as of Tuesday, an increase from 895 last Wednesday. There are 605 ICU beds in use, up from 595 a week ago. The number of ICU beds filled with COVID-19 patients increased by one to 112. About 36% of the state’s ICU beds are available.

The state reported 372 coronavirus disease patients were hospitalized last Wednesday.

The state also reported a total of 840 ventilators. There are 139 in use, and 28 of those are COVID-19 patients. The total is up from 831 a week ago, the number in use is up from 96 and the ones used by COVID-19 patients is up from 21. About 83% of the state’s ventilators are available.

About 40% of the 1,545 hospitalizations in the state have been patients who were 65 years old or older. The 65-74 age group has had 280 hospitalizations, the 75-84 age group has had 204 hospitalizations and the 85 and older age group has had 137 hospitalizations.

The infant to 9-year-old age group has had 19 hospitalizations. The 10-17 age group has had five hospitalizations. The 18-24 age group has had 55 hospitalizations. The 25-34 age group has had 113 hospitalizations. The 35-44 age group has had 177 hospitalizations. The 45-54 age group has had 247 hospitalizations. The 55-64 age group has had 308 hospitalizations.

While not all cases have hospitalization data available, comparing the number of known hospitalizations in each age group with the number of cases reported by the KDHE provides an estimated hospitalization rate by age.

About 2.7% of children in the infant to 9-year-old age group have been hospitalized. The rate falls to less than half of a percent for the 10-17 age group. The rate is about 1.2% for the 18-24 age group, about 2.4% for the 25-34 age group and about 4.4% for the 35-44 age group.

The 45-54 age group has a rate of about 6.6% and the 55-64 age group’s rate is about 11.2%. The estimated hospitalization rate jumps to about 21.2% for the 65-74 age group, about 30% for the 75-84 age group and about 27.4% for the 85 and older age group.

Coronavirus clusters

There are 303 known coronavirus clusters statewide, an increase of 11 or 3.8%, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported. There are 136 active clusters.

The mass outbreaks account for 7,258 cases and 229 deaths, or about one-third of cases and about three-quarters of deaths in the state.

The number of clusters increased by three nursing homes, three businesses, two daycares or schools, two health care facilities, one sporting event and one correctional facility. One of those outbreaks was reclassified from a gathering, which had its cluster count drop by one.

One new death was connected to a cluster on Wednesday. It was the first death attributed to an outbreak at a health care facility. The 15 clusters at health care facilities also account for 113 cases.

Nursing home outbreaks are responsible for more than half of all deaths in Kansas. The 78 clusters at long-term care facilities account for 1,145 cases and 180 deaths.

Two cluster categories have not been linked to any deaths. The 12 clusters at daycares or schools account for 44 cases. The six clusters at sporting events account for 53 cases.

There have been more cases at meatpacking plants than any other cluster category. The 12 meatpacking plant clusters account for 3,229 cases and 17 deaths.

The private business cluster category has more outbreaks than any other. The 115 clusters at businesses account for 920 cases and six deaths.

The six clusters at correctional facilities account for 1,031 cases and seven deaths. The 47 outbreaks at gatherings account for 587 cases and 15 deaths. The 12 clusters at group homes account for 136 cases and three deaths.

The Sedgwick County Health Department did not report any new clusters on Wednesday after a new nursing home cluster was added on Tuesday. The outbreak was at the Kansas Masonic Home. There have been 22 clusters in the county, accounting for 27 deaths.

County COVID-19 comparisons

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

• Johnson County has 4,158 cases, an increase of 225 cases or 5.7%.
• Wyandotte County has 3,937 cases, an increase of 112 cases or 2.9%.
• Sedgwick County has 3,368 cases, an increase of 206 cases or 6.5%.
• Ford County has 2,065 cases, an increase of four cases or 0.2%.
• Finney County has 1,595 cases, an increase of four cases or 0.3%.
• Leavenworth County has 1,333 cases, an increase of 27 cases or 2.1%.
• Shawnee County has 1,237 cases, an increase of 32 cases or 2.7%.
• Seward County has 1,067 cases, an increase of eight cases or 0.8%.
• Lyon County has 558 cases, an increase of six cases or 1.1%.
• Douglas County has 552 cases, an increase of 15 cases or 2.8%.
• Riley County has 389 cases, an increase of 18 cases or 4.9%.
• Crawford County has 360 cases, an increase of nine cases or 2.6%.
• Saline County has 284 cases, an increase of three cases or 1.1%.
• Reno County has 179 cases, an increase of four cases or 2.3%.
• Geary County has 160 cases, an increase of 15 cases or 10.3%.
• Butler County has 144 cases, an increase of five cases or 3.6%.
• Jackson County has 131 cases, an increase of one case or 0.8%.
• Harvey County has 127 cases, an increase of eight cases or 6.7%.
• Franklin County has 124 cases, an increase of six cases or 5.1%.
• McPherson County has 118 cases, an increase of 10 cases or 9.3%.
• Cowley County has 117 cases, a decrease of one case or negative 0.9%.
• Montgomery County has 106 cases, an increase of four cases or 3.9%.
• Labette County has 103 cases, an increase of 11 cases or 12.1%.
• Pottawatomie County has 102 cases, which is no change.

This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 12:54 PM.