Kansas reports 5 college COVID clusters as Wichita area positive rate drops below 10%

Public health officials have reported six more deaths attributed to the coronavirus disease, as well as seven new outbreaks at educational or daycare facilities.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s COVID-19 report for Wednesday listed 411 total deaths since the pandemic hit the state. There have been 35,890 total cases, which was an increase of 723 new cases since Monday’s report. There were 56 new hospitalizations reported, raising the cumulative total to 2,090.

There are 441 coronavirus clusters. There were 12 new mass outbreaks reported. The state reported five college or university clusters, as well as two new outbreaks at daycares or schools.

The Sedgwick County Health Department reported a positive test percentage below 10% for the first time in more than a month.

The positive rate for Tuesday was reported at 9.69%. The rate is a rolling 14-day average, and data for Saturday, Sunday and Monday was revised to be below 10%. The last time the rate had been below 10% was July 9. It peaked at 14.03% on July 23.

Education and health experts have said that a percentage above 10% is an indicator that schools, or at least high school, should reopen online only.

The KDHE reported 6,212 cases in Sedgwick County, which was an increase of 110 over two days.

Sedgwick County officials reported 53 new cases between Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing the total to 5,489. The county no longer reports active cases and recoveries. No new deaths were reported, keeping the count at 47.

Four of the new cases were close contacts of another confirmed case. The other 49 cases are still under investigation for the source of exposure to the virus.

Seven of the new local cases were children and teenagers. The 20-39 age group added 16, the 40-59 age group added 12, the 60-79 age group added 14 and the 80 and older age group added four.

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.

School gating criteria

The KDHE added a tab on school gating metrics to their online dashboard. The only indicator on that tab as of Wednesday afternoon was the trend in the incidence rate, which is a weekly measure of new cases per 100,000 population.

Data is available for each county and is also broken down by age group.

The Sedgwick County trend in incidence rate increased last week following three weeks of decreases. The two child age groups — infant to 9 years old and 10-17 — both decreased last week, as did the 65-74 and 75-84 age groups. All other age groups increased last week.

In the Wichita area, the trend increased in Cowley, Harvey, Reno and Sumner counties and decreased in Butler and Kingman counties.

Coronavirus clusters

There have been 441 clusters with 149 of those still active, the KDHE reports. There were a dozen new mass outbreaks reported on Wednesday.

Those 441 total clusters are responsible for 8,781 cases, 586 hospitalizations and 266 deaths. The cluster death count increased by two.

The state added a new tracker for clusters at colleges or universities. The five disease outbreaks in that category have infected 57 people.

Two more clusters were reported at daycares or schools. There are now 16 clusters in that category, with 78 cases and one hospitalization.

Both of the new cluster deaths were connected to meatpacking plant clusters. There have now been 19 deaths and 104 hospitalizations out of the 3,348 cases connected to the 16 outbreaks at meatpacking plants.

Nursing homes are the deadliest cluster category with more than half of all the COVID-19 deaths in the state. There were five more outbreaks at long-term care facilities, bringing the tally to 121 clusters with 1,614 cases, 290 hospitalizations and 209 deaths.

The gatherings group had two new clusters. One of those was at a bar or restaurant and the other was at a religious gathering.

There have been 11 clusters with 249 cases and four hospitalizations at bars or restaurants. Religious gatherings have had 18 outbreaks with 190 cases, 51 hospitalizations and 12 deaths.

The gatherings group also has two clusters at camps, which have 38 cases, and two clusters at fairs or festivals, which have 17 cases. The 37 outbreaks at private events are responsible for 277 cases, 23 hospitalizations and five deaths.

Two more clusters were reported at correctional facilities, bringing the category to 15 outbreaks with 1,324 cases, 18 hospitalizations and six deaths.

No new clusters were reported at health care facilities, which have had 21 clusters with 192 cases, 10 hospitalizations and two deaths. There were no new outbreaks at sporting events, which have nine outbreaks with 67 cases.

Two cluster categories had reductions in the cluster counts as their outbreaks were reclassified to other groups. There were three fewer business clusters, putting its total at 149 with 1,136 cases, 69 hospitalizations and eight deaths. There was one fewer group home cluster, putting its total at 19 with 194 cases, 16 hospitalizations and five deaths.

Deaths, hospitalizations and testing

All six new deaths reported by the KDHE on Wednesday were men. Five were white and one was Asian. Two were Hispanic while four were not.

One patient was in the 45-54 age group, three were in the 75-84 age group and two were in the 85 and older age group, including a 106-year-old man who became the oldest Kansan to die of COVID-19.

The death counts including people with a death certificate that lists COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death.

The Harvey County Health Department confirmed its fourth death on Tuesday and a fifth death on Wednesday. The patients were a woman in her 50s and a man in his 60s.

In Kingman County, local health officials on Tuesday removed their restriction on the number of people allowed at a mass gathering.

“We are doing away with this restriction and replacing it with guidelines we hope will be helpful for people who do want to have a gathering,” the health department said in a Facebook post.

With the 2,090 total COVID-19 hospitalizations statewide during the pandemic, 567 patients have been admitted into intensive care units and 202 have been placed on ventilators. At least 1,472 of the patients have been discharged.

The 56 new hospitalizations reported on Wednesday included patients from every age group.

The KDHE reported four more hospitalizations and one more ICU admission in Sedgwick County. The local totals are now 268 hospitalizations, 52 ICU admissions, 15 patients on ventilators and 165 discharges.

Those numbers are cumulative.

The latest hospital capacity data from the KDHE reported 300 total COVID-19 patients were hospitalized on Tuesday. At that time, 88 of those patients were in the ICU. There were about 38% of the 944 total ICU beds available. On Sunday, there were 229 total COVID-19 patients hospitalized with 62 of those in the ICU. About 49% of ICU beds were available.

In the south-central Kansas hospital region, there were 128 COVID-19 patients hospitalized with 43 of those in the ICU. About 33% of the 374 total ICU beds were available. On Sunday, there were 46 COVID-19 patients with 22 of those in the ICU. About 53% of the 217 ICU beds were available.

The source of the daily KDHE hospital data is a national database that depends on reporting from individual hospitals. The most recent data may be incomplete.

There have been 323,950 negative tests after an increase of 4,855, the KDHE reported. Sedgwick County reported a total of 67,913 people tested after an increase of 865.

The statewide positive testing rate was 10% on Wednesday. The population testing rate was 123.52 people per 1,000 population. Sedgwick County is below the statewide number at 115.4 per 1,000.

This story was originally published August 19, 2020 at 1:00 PM.