Coronavirus updates: Sedgwick County reports third death in two days, total now 36

Sedgwick County has reported coronavirus deaths for two consecutive days.

On Friday, two COVID-19 deaths were reported. An additional death was listed Saturday, bringing the total to 36.

Before that, a death had been reported on Tuesday and four on July 15. County manager Tom Stolz said the four deaths had been since the beginning of July but appeared at once on the Sedgwick County Health Department dashboard.

Deaths, hospitalizations and percent of positive cases are better indicators of community spread than new cases, health officials say. This week, Ascension Via Christi reported its highest number of hospitalizations, in the upper 30s. Wesley Medical Center has not been releasing specific numbers.

The percent of positive cases hit a record high of nearly 13.2% on Thursday. It was about 12.4% on Friday, the latest day available. Before the latest climb, Sedgwick County had a high of about 12.1% on April 19.

Active cases dipped Friday for the first time since June 30, to 2,227. Active cases are cases minus recoveries and deaths.

When there were 32 deaths, Stolz said 27 came from long-term care facilities. All were people over 50.

The health department also reported 171 new cases Saturday, bringing the total to 3,474 cases.

Of the increase in cases, about 42% came from the 20-39 age group, which has a similar percentage of the total cases. Ages 0-19 jumped by 17 new cases.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has been reporting figures on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays since May 13. The latest report had 25,109 cases and 326 deaths, which represented increases of 1,005 and 18. It was the largest increase in deaths reported under the new system and the fourth most new cases. The highest number of new cases was 1,447 on July 13 and the others have all been since then.