Kansas has tied 58 COVID clusters to gatherings. KDHE expects more after Labor Day
More than a quarter of the 29,717 cases of COVID-19 in Kansas have been linked to clusters and experts say more are expected as a result of potential Labor Day gatherings.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment identified 369 outbreaks of the coronavirus disease, which have infected 7,851 people. The 247 deaths attributed to the mass outbreaks make up 67% of the state’s 368 deaths.
The state’s clusters include 136 at private businesses, 99 at long-term care facilities and 58 from gatherings.
The number of active clusters sits at 145. That’s 27 more than there were three weeks ago. An active cluster is considered closed “28 days from last symptom onset,” said Kristi Zears, spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Looking ahead to Labor Day, KDHE Secretary Lee Norman said Tuesday in a University of Kansas Health Center media briefing that he expects to see a rise in cases linked to gatherings. But don’t expect to see cases reported right away.
“Anything that drives gatherings of people has had a demonstrable increase, usually four to seven days after the gatherings or the gathering weekend is when the cases start materializing,” Norman said. “The data entry lags just a little bit because it takes some time for people to get tested and then results to come back, so we’ve been seeing kind of an uptick in 10 to 14 days.”
“I absolutely predict that people will drop their guard again and we’ll see an uptick. It will be very unfortunate timing if it puts the next peak at the time when people are entering school.”
The outbreaks resulting from gatherings include 33 private events, 12 religious gatherings, nine bars or restaurants and one camp, according to data from the state health department. Combined, those gatherings have infected 628 people, hospitalized 70 and killed 16.
Nursing homes, which account for 196 deaths, have had most of the deaths related to clusters and more than half of the total COVID-19 deaths in Kansas.
Outbreaks at meatpacking facilities and state prisons were major early drivers of cases in the state. More than 3,200 cases were found at meatpacking plants across the state and 17 people have died as a result. A large outbreak at Lansing Correctional Facility infected 850 residents and 96 staff. It was considered contained as of June 10. Cases among residents have been found at seven of the state’s 10 facilities, including the Wichita Work Release Facility. The Sedgwick County Jail is also in the midst of an outbreak.
Clusters have also been confirmed at health care facilities, group homes, daycares or schools and sporting events.
The KDHE does not typically disclose cluster locations, leaving that to the discretion of local health departments.
The Sedgwick County Health Department did not report any new clusters on Wednesday. There have been 30 mass outbreaks, including 14 at nursing homes, 10 at businesses, four at religious institutions and and two at correctional facilities.
While the earlier phase of the pandemic hit long-term care facilities particularly hard, a rising number of cases in many parts of the country have been attributed to Fourth of July gatherings, graduation parties and crowded bars, the Associated Press reported.
Across the U.S., more than 4.7 million people have contracted the coronavirus and more than 156,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. Both the number of infections and deaths are easily the highest in the world, the Associated Press said.
New cases and deaths reported in Kansas
State public health officials reported another three deaths from the coronavirus disease on Wednesday.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 841 new cases of COVID-19 statewide and 217 more cases in Sedgwick County since Monday. While the state agency reported three new deaths, the Sedgwick County Health Department did not report any.
There have now been 368 deaths statewide, the KDHE reports, and Sedgwick County reports 43 total deaths.
The new cases bring the cumulative totals to 29,717 cases in Kansas and 4,723 in Sedgwick County, according to the KDHE
The Sedgwick County Health Department reports fewer cases. The total is 4,540, which is an increase of 104 from Tuesday.
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 confirmed and probable cases, according to the county health department.
The local health department also reported 69 more recoveries and 35 more active cases. There have now been 1,632 recoveries with 2,865 active cases.
The number of local tests increased by 437 and now totals 57,766 people tested. The positive test percentage, which is a rolling 14-day average, has increased after experiencing more than a week of declines. The value was 11.77% on Tuesday, up from 11.42% on Monday.
The KDHE reported 39 more hospitalizations statewide, raising the cumulative total to 1,821. That includes 516 intensive care unit admissions, 190 on ventilators and at least 1,254 discharged patients. There were no new Sedgwick County hospital admissions reported by the KDHE, while the number of discharges increased by nine. The totals are 229 hospitalizations and 130 discharges.
The KDHE reported 358 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide on Tuesday, which was down from 385 on Monday. The number in the ICU went down to 78 from 94. As of Tuesday, there were a total of 564 out of 924 ICU beds in use statewide, so 39% were available.
The south-central Kansas region had 123 COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals on Tuesday, which was down from 133 on Monday. There were 36 in the ICU, which was down three. With 242 of 379 ICU beds in use, 36% were available.
The source of the KDHE data is a national database that hospitals report their numbers to. The most recent data may not be complete and gets updated if new information is available.
Demographics
Of the 104 new cases reported by the Sedgwick County Health Department, 101 are still under investigation for the source of exposure. Two were infected by a close contact and one case was travel related.
Half of the new cases were patients between the ages of 20 and 39 years old. The 40-59 age group added 24 cases, the 60-79 age group had 16 new cases and the infant to 19-year-old group had a dozen more cases. No new cases were patients who were 80 or older.
Of the three new deaths in the state, one was a patient between the ages of 55 and 64 and the other two were between 75 and 84. All three were men. Two were white and one was a race other than Black, Native American or Asian. One of them had Hispanic ethnicity.
Out of the 39 new hospitalizations in the state, the infant to 9-year-old and the 18-24 age groups were the only ones without a new hospitalization. There was one new hospitalization in each of the 10-17, 25-34 and 35-44 age groups. There were seven more in the 45-54 age group, nine more for ages 55-64, eight more for ages 65-74, nine more among ages 75-84 and three more who were 85 or older.
Wichita area counties
The 217 new cases reported by the KDHE in Sedgwick County account for about 26% of the statewide increase. The county has about 18% of the state’s population.
The 841 new cases in Kansas was a percent change of 2.9%. Five of the counties in the Wichita area had greater percent increases.
- Sedgwick County has 4,723 cases, which is an increase of 217 cases or 4.8%.
- Reno County has 251 cases, which is an increase of 12 cases or 5%.
- Butler County has 251 cases, which is an increase of 14 cases or 5.9%.
- Harvey County has 190 cases, which is an increase of 10 cases or 5.3%.
- Cowley County has 159 cases, which is an increase of one case or 0.6%.
- Sumner County has 98 cases, which is no change.
- Kingman County has 12 cases, which is an increase of two cases, or 20%.
The Butler County Health Department reported its first coronavirus death on Tuesday.
This story was originally published August 5, 2020 at 4:33 PM with the headline "Kansas has tied 58 COVID clusters to gatherings. KDHE expects more after Labor Day."
