Sedgwick County reports 44th COVID death, drop in active cases and positive test percent

Local public health officials reported another coronavirus death on Thursday as the positive test percentage and the number of active cases dropped again.

The new death brings the total to 44, according to the Sedgwick County Health Department’s COVID-19 dashboard.

Thursday’s report was the second time active cases dropped this week. There are now 48 fewer known active cases in the community, putting the total at 2,817. A decrease of nine active cases on Tuesday put that day’s total at 2,830.

The decrease in active cases is largely due to an increase in recoveries, as well as a slower rate of increase in new cases. The 110 new recoveries reported Thursday brings the total to 1,742. Sedgwick County averaged about 94 new cases a day last month; 63 new cases were reported on Thursday.

The positive test percentage has been declining since hitting a peak of 13.99% on July 23. It dropped to 10.56% on Wednesday, which is the most recent data available. That’s down from 11.24% the day before.

Reports earlier this week had shown a slight uptick, but those numbers have been revised by the health department. The values are 14-day rolling averages.

There have now been 58,709 people tested, an increase of 943. At the most recent positive test percent, about 100 of those people tested would have their results come back positive for COVID-19.

The 63 new cases reported by the county health department puts the cumulative total for the coronavirus pandemic at 4,603. Eight of the new cases were close contacts of other confirmed patients. The other 55 new cases are still under investigation for the source of exposure.

The infant to 19-year-old age group had 11 of the new cases, the 20-39 age group added 20 and the 40-59 age group added 16. The 60-79 age group had 11 new cases and the 80 and older group had five more cases.

Evidence shows mask orders are effective, Norman says

The secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Dr. Lee Norman, said Wednesday that the mask “experiment” shows counties the kept the governor’s mask order or implemented their own are outperforming counties that do not require masks.

He displayed a graphic with the seven-day rolling average of daily cases per 100,000 people between July 12 and Monday. It had two lines: one for the 15 counties with mask orders and one for the 90 counties that abandoned the mandate and turned the governor’s executive order into a local recommendation.

“In the counties with no mask mandate, there’s been no decrease in the number of cases per capita,” Norman said.

The graph appears to show a drop from more than 25 cases to about 16 cases per 100,000 population per day for the counties with mask requirements. The other 90 counties have apparently held steady at roughly nine cases per 100,000 population per day.

“I think it doesn’t take a lot of convincing that this slope of a line going in this direction represent improvement in the per-capita case rate,” Norman said of the line for counties with mask orders.

There is no improvement in the other counties. Statewide, Kansas as a whole is improving. Norman said “it is entirely” due to the counties with mask mandates. The 15 counties have about two-thirds of the state’s population, and they tend to be more urban with greater population density.

Free, walk-in testing sites for COVID-19

The Sedgwick County Health Department’s Mobile Outreach Response Team will be at a few different locations during the next two weeks to offer free COVID-19 testing for people who have symptoms or have been in contact with infected people. The testing is from 8:30-11:30 a.m. and the results will take five to seven days.

• Monday at the Valley Center Community Center, 314 E. Clay Street, in Valley Center
• Thursday at Pathway Church, 18800 W Kellogg, in Goddard
• Aug. 18 at Madison Avenue Central Park Pavilion, 512 E. Madison, in Derby
• Aug. 20 at the Haysville Community Center, 130 E. 2nd South, in Haysville

This story was originally published August 6, 2020 at 2:33 PM.