Sedgwick County has 73 new cases of COVID-19 — 21% are children and teens

About 21% of the new coronavirus patients in Sedgwick County on Thursday are children and teenagers, public health data shows.

The Sedgwick County Health Department’s COVID-19 dashboard showed 73 new cases of COVID-19 since Wednesday. Fifteen of those patients were between zero and 19 years old.

The county reported a cumulative total of 5,141 confirmed cases since the pandemic hit the Wichita area. No new deaths were reported, keeping the total at 46.

The active case count rose by 17 to 2,830, which is the highest it has been. However, the rate of increase has slowed this month. Sedgwick County has averaged about seven more active cases per day since Aug. 1. Between July 1 and Aug. 1, the average increase was about 66 cases per day.

The slowed increase in active cases is reflected by a slower increase in new cases and a greater increase in recoveries.

The number of recoveries jumped by 56 on Thursday, bringing the total to 2,265.

There have been 64,416 people tested in the county, which is an increase of 879. The positive test percent had a slight increase, from 10.34% on Tuesday to 10.38% on Wednesday. At that rate, about 91 of the 879 people tested will have their results come back positive.

Of the 73 new cases, 69 are still under investigation for the source of exposure. The other four cases were close contacts of another confirmed patient.

In addition to the 15 new cases in the infant to 19-year-old age group, there were 26 new cases in the 20-39 age group, 23 in the 40-59 age group, seven in the 60-79 age group and two in the 80 and older age group.

This story was originally published August 13, 2020 at 5:04 PM.