Coronavirus updates: Kansas reports first teenage death

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment on Friday reported 12 new COVID-19 deaths since Wednesday, including an 18-year-old who is the youngest person to have died from the virus in the state.

The first death in the 18-24 age range was a 20-year-old reported on July 27. In an email, KDHE spokesperson Kristi Zears said the teen’s death occurred earlier this summer but was not reported to the department.

“COVID-19 had been listed on the death certificate” of the teen and the death was added to the list, Zears said. “The patient had underlying health conditions.”

The largest age group is 85-plus, which counts for 129, or about 34%, of the 380 deaths. Kansas has been trending down in deaths, according to data from July 19 to August 2. The trend line went from just over four a day at the beginning of the time frame to just under two.

The data lags five days behind since the latest information is “expected to be incomplete.”

The youngest death follows a trend of patients getting younger.

Kansas reported its first COVID-19 cases on March 7 and started reporting median age on March 24. The median age then was 52 and Kansas had 98 cases.

Kansas now has 30,638 cases and a median age of 37.

Hospitalizations from Wednesday saw a jump of 54, bringing the total to 1,875. Additionally, there has been 285,874 negative tests for a total percent positive of 9.7%.

Percent positive, deaths and hospitalizations are better indicators of community spread than new cases, health officials say.

On percent positive, KDHE has available data going back to May 10 when 5.3% of tests came back positive. The percent positive ebbed and flowed before hitting a low of 1.8% on June 7. It hit a high of 10.6% on July 19. It’s been over 7% each day this week.

Hospitalizations have been relatively steady from July 19 to August 2, hovering around 12 new admissions a day.

Of the 921 new cases reported Friday, 212, or 23%, were in Sedgwick County, which has a total of 4,935 cases. It’s the third most cases, behind Johnson and Wyandotte counties.

Sedgwick County has reported 44 deaths.

Sedgwick County numbers

The Sedgwick County Health Department reported an increase of 113 cases for a total of 4,716.

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.

Sedgwick County saw a high of nearly 14% positive cases on July 23. It was at 11% on Thursday, the latest day available.

Of the 113 new cases, the 20-39 age group saw the biggest leap in cases with 46. The age group has 1,961, or about 42%, of all Sedgwick County cases.

Sedgwick County Jail to test all inmates and staff

All inmates and staff will be tested for COVID-19 starting Monday, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office said Friday. The jail has had at least 26 inmates and a deputy test positive.

Salvation Army cancels annual breakfast event

The Salvation Army canceled its annual community leadership breakfast that was slated for Sept. 16 at Century II. The organization plans to stream the event and a link will be available on its website, salvationarmy-wichita.org, and social media sites.