August was a better month for COVID numbers in Wichita and Kansas, but how much better?

As several Kansas and Wichita area school districts waited to reopen, many coronavirus pandemic indicators have improved.

July was not a good month as Sedgwick County tripled its number of COVID-19 cases and the Kansas total increased 86%. August was better for many of the data points, but in the case of school gating criteria, the improvements did little to change reopening zones.

Using Sedgwick County Health Department data, the county ended August with one school reopening indicator in each color zone of the Kansas Department of Education’s guide. August had started with one red, two oranges and a green.

August statistics from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment show that the 18-24 year old age group had the greatest share of the 14,800 new cases of COVID-19 reported last month. The demographic information also shows that more men are dying from COVID-19, and the Black population has the highest death rate.

The state also identified 170 more mass outbreaks in August.

New cases, hospitalizations and deaths

The KDHE reported 42,612 total cases of COVID-19 as of Aug. 31. That was an increase of 14,800 new cases or a percent change of 53.2%.

Of the seven Wichita area counties, only one had a percent increase smaller than the statewide number. Three of the counties saw their case totals more than double last month.

• Sedgwick County had 7,306 cases on Aug. 31, which was up from 4,196 on July 31. The increase was 3,110 cases or 74.1%.
• Reno County had 775 cases, up from 229. The increase was 546 or 238.4%.
  
  
• Butler County had 474 cases, up from 215. The increase was 259 or 120.5%.
  
  
• Harvey County had 291 cases, up from 165. The increase was 126 or 76.4%.
  
  
• Cowley County had 255 cases, up from 151. The increase was 104 or 68.9%.
  
  
• Sumner County had 121 cases, up from 97. The increase was 24 or 24.7%.
  
  
• Kingman County had 43 cases, up from nine. The increase was 34 or 377.8%.
  
  

The KDHE reported 553 new COVID-19 hospitalizations, which was an increase of 31.6%. There were 92 new hospitalizations in Sedgwick County, which was an increase of 40.5%.

As of Aug. 31, there had been 2,304 total hospitalizations in Kansas with 628 patients needing intensive care beds and 209 needing ventilators. There had been 1,673 discharges reported. The ICU number increased 27.1%, the ventilator number increased 16.8% and the discharge number increased 42.0%.

Sedgwick County had 319 total hospitalizations with 57 in the ICU and 16 on ventilators. There have been 206 discharges. The ICU number increased 29.5%, the ventilator increase was 45.5% and the discharge increase was 70.2%.

Kansas reported 88 deaths attributed to COVID-19 last month. The 24.6% increase in August brought the total to 446.

The Sedgwick County Health Department reported 11 more deaths, or an increase of 28.2%. There have been 50 total deaths in the county.

The county reported 2,821 new cases in August, or a 69.3% increase, putting the Aug. 31 total 6,893. Discrepancies between the state and local numbers can be due to a delay in reporting between the agencies. Additionally, Sedgwick County only counts confirmed cases.

It is unclear how a mass outbreak at the Sedgwick County Jail affected the numbers.

The county stopped reporting active cases and recoveries in August, partly due to overwhelmed health workers having no time to follow up with patients to confirm when they recovered.

Active cases surpassed recoveries in July, but August saw recovery numbers start to catch up before the last day of reporting on Aug. 16. On Aug. 1, there were 1,011 more active cases than recoveries. The difference was cut to 128 by Aug. 16.

Sedgwick County only reports hospital data on Mondays. The numbers are for current hospitalizations, not the total or cumulative hospitalizations.

As of Aug. 31, there were 50 patients with COVID-19 hospitalized in the county with 23 of those in the ICU. There were 32 out of 208 ICU beds available. On Aug. 3, there were 72 hospitalizations with 34 in the ICU. There were 20 ICU beds available.

The number of patients hospitalized declined every week. The ICU number fluctuated. The 35 ICU patients on Aug. 24 was the highest value since the county started reporting hospital numbers using the current system. The 32 available ICU beds on Aug. 31 was the most using the current system.

The county reported 25,338 more people were tested in August. The increase of 46.5% brought the total to 79,795.

There were 110,612 additional negative test results statewide in August. That moved the total to 375,307.

School reopening statistics in Sedgwick County

Several public school districts in the Wichita area use so-called gating criteria to assist in making decisions on reopening amid the pandemic. Many of the schools use modified versions of the color-coded matrix from the Kansas Department of Education.

The matrix has green, yellow, orange and red zones where green is the most lenient and red is the most restrictive. Under the state guidelines, all grades have normal in-person classes and all activities are permitted in the green zone as long as safety measures are implemented. In the red zone, all classes must be online only and no sports or extracurricular activities are allowed, unless if they can meet remotely.

The yellow and orange zones differ by school district, but the state guidelines recommend no high-risk activities, such as football, in the yellow zone. In the orange zone there would be no sports or activities, under the state guide. Many districts in the Wichita area have decided not to follow the state recommendations on sports restrictions in the orange and yellow zones.

The two-week positive test rate, which compares new cases to new tests, is one of the most-discussed indicators. A rate above 15% is in the red zone, the orange zone starts at 10% and the yellow zone starts at 5%.

The KDHE reports one-week numbers. For the last week of July, which ran from July 26 to Aug. 1, the statewide percent positive was 7.39%. In Sedgwick County, it was 10.91%.

The county’s one-week rate peaked at 15.23% for the week of Aug. 9 to Aug. 15. The final week of August, which was Aug. 23 to Aug. 29, had a rate of 9.38%. The statewide rate was 9.10% for that final week.

Sedgwick County reports a 14-day rolling average that is updated as more test results are reported. The latest numbers available Wednesday showed a positive rate of 12.41% on July 31.

The county started the month on a decline from a high of 14.05% on July 23 and it continued that decline at the start of August, reaching 10.98% on Aug. 6. However, the rate spiked to 12.17% on Aug. 14. It has mostly declined since then, hitting 8.14% on Aug. 31.

Using state numbers, Sedgwick County was in the orange zone at the end of July and at the end of August. Using county numbers, the county went from orange to yellow.

Another criteria is the two-week cumulative incidence rate, which measures new cases compared to 100,000 population. There is also an indicator for the trend in that rate.

A rate above 151 new cases is in the red zone. Both the statewide number and the Sedgwick County number have not left the red zone. A decreasing trend is in the green zone. Both the statewide and local numbers were decreasing at the end of July and the end of August.

The KDHE reports weekly numbers, and the two-week rate can be calculated. As of Aug. 1, the statewide two-week rate using KDHE data was 181 new cases per 100,000 population. The trend had been decreasing for three weeks.

The statewide trend increased for the next three weeks, but decreased last week. The two-week rate as of Aug. 29 was 230.2 new cases per 100,000 people.

In Sedgwick County, the KDHE data gives a two-week rate of 251 new cases per 100,000 people as of Aug. 1. That decreased to 183 new cases by Aug. 29. The trend was decreasing at the end of July, increased at the start of August, then decreased again at the end of August.

The county health department also reports new cases compared to population on a weekly basis. The county data gave a two-week rate of 263 on Aug. 1 and 176 cases on Aug. 29.

The local hospital capacity is another indicator, and several schools have measured it using the Sedgwick County Health Department’s data. The county only releases numbers on Mondays, using Wesley Healthcare and Ascension Via Christi data.

The red zone is less than 10% of all ICU beds are available. The orange zone runs from 10% to 20%.

As of Aug. 3, about 9.6% of ICU beds in Wichita were available, putting the county in the red zone. That number was just above or just below 10% for the rest of the month before improving to 15.4% on Aug. 31, which is in the orange zone.

Demographics of cases, hospitalizations and deaths

Young adults were the biggest contributor to the increase increase of 14,800 new cases in Kansas, which was a 53.2% increase. The 18-24 year old age group had the most new cases in August as well as the greatest percent change in total cases.

By age group:

The median age of patients has trended younger, from 37 at the end of July to 36 at the end of August. The average age stayed at 39.

While younger Kansans had a greater increase in cases, they were a relatively small portion of new hospitalizations. About 9% of all new hospitalizations were patients younger than 35.

There were 553 new hospitalizations last month, which was an increase of 31.6%.

By age group:

• 0-9 had 23 total hospitalizations on Aug. 31, which was up from 19 on July 31. It was increase of four hospitalizations or a percent change of 21.1%.
  
  
• 10-17 had 13 hospitalizations, up from nine. The increase was four or 44.4%.
  
  
• 18-24 had 75 hospitalizations, up from 62. The increase was 13 or 21.0%.
  
  
• 25-34 had 151 hospitalizations, up from 122. The increase was 29 or 23.8%.
  
  
• 35-44 had 254 hospitalizations, up from 201. The increase was 53 or 26.4%.
  
  
• 45-54 had 350 hospitalizations, up from 265. The increase was 85 or 32.1%.
  
  
• 55-64 had 445 hospitalizations, up from 350. The increase was 95 or 27.1%.
  
  
• 65-74 had 447 hospitalizations, up from 331. The increase was 116 or 35.0%.
  
  
• 75-84had 337 hospitalizations, up from 231. The increase was 106 or 45.9%.
  
  
• 85 and older had 209 hospitalizations, up from 161. The increase was 48 or 29.8%.
  
  

While the median age of COVID-19 cases went down, the median age of COVID-19 deaths went up. It had been 78 a month ago and is now 79. The youngest death and oldest death were also reported last month. The range is now 18 to 106. It had been 20 to 99.

By age group:

While the male sex has slightly more cases than females, it has many more deaths.

At the end of July, 49.4% of cases were males and 49.1% were females. The divide grew to 50% male and 48.5% female by the end of August. At both points, 1.5% of cases had no sex reported.

The divide is greater for deaths. Men were 56.4% of deaths at the end of July while women were 43.6% That shifted to 58.7% and 41.3%, respectively, at the end of August.

Black Kansans continue to have a death rate per population higher than any other race. Ethnicity data shows Hispanics also have a higher death rate.

By race:

• White people had a death rate of 12.58 people per 100,000 population on Aug. 31, which was up from 10.06 on July 31. The increase was 2.52.
• Black people had a death rate of 32.57 people, which was up from 29.82. The increase was 2.75.
• Native Americans had a death rate of 6.17 people, which was up from 4.63. The increase was 1.54.
• Asian people had a death rate of 10.25 people, which was up from 8.39. The increase was 1.86.
• All other races had a death rate of 23.90 people, which was up from 16.29. The increase was 7.61.

By ethnicity:

• Hispanic people had a death rate of 19.2 people, which was up from 16.1 The increase was 3.1.
• Non-Hispanic people had a death rate of 13.8 people, which was up from 11.2. The increase was 2.6.

In Sedgwick County, the health department reported 2,821 new cases last month for a percent change of 69.3%. The eldest group had the smallest increase in actual cases and in percent change.

By age group:

• 0-19 had 947 cases on Aug 31, which was up from 577 on July 31. The increase was 370 cases or 64.1%.
  
  
• 20-39 had 2,938 cases, up from 1,695. The increase was 1,243 or 73.3%.
  
  
• 40-59 had 1,975 cases, up from 1,144. The increase was 831 or 72.6%.
  
  
• 60-79 had 805 cases, up from 488. The increase was 317 or 65.0%.
  
  
• 80 and older had 228 cases, up from 168. The increase was 60 or 35.7%.
  
  

The county race and ethnicity statistics are incomplete. A little less than a third of all cases have no racial information, and more than 42% have no ethnicity information.

In the cases where race information is available, Black people in Sedgwick County have a rate higher than other races. The county does not report rates by ethnicity.

By race:

• White people had a case rate of 850 people per 100,000 population on Aug. 31, which was up from 532 on July 31. The increase was 318.
• Black people had a case rate of 1,410, up from 673. The increase was 737.
• All other races had a case rate of 987, up from 646. The increase was 341.

Coronavirus clusters

The Aug. 31 report from the KDHE listed 519 total coronavirus clusters — an increase of 170 mass outbreaks since July 31. The number of active clusters increased by 37 to 178.

The cluster case count increased by 2,721 to 10,325 and the death count increased by 49 to 290.

As of Aug. 31, there had been clusters at:

• 19 college or university, with 257 cases and one hospitalization.
• 16 correctional facilities, with 2,098 cases, 19 hospitalized and six dead.
• 14 daycares, with 50 cases.
• Five schools, with 38 cases and two hospitalized.
  
  
• 14 sporting events, with 106 cases.
  
  
• 25 group homes, with 221 cases, 17 hospitalized and five dead.
  
  
• 25 health care facilities, with 214 cases, 13 hospitalized and five dead.
  
  
• 137 nursing homes, with 1,864 cases, 313 hospitalized and 229 dead.
  
  
• 17 meatpacking plants, with 3,427 cases, 106 hospitalized and 19 dead.
  
  
• 163 businesses, with 1,201 cases, 74 hospitalized and eight dead.
  
  
• 13 bars or restaurants, with 267 cases and four hospitalized.
• Two camps, with 42 cases.
• One fair or festival, with cases.
• 45 private events, with 304 cases, 24 hospitalized and five dead.
• 19 religious gatherings, with 201 cases, 52 hospitalized and 13 dead.
• Four travel groups, with 28 cases and two hospitalized.

Kansas officials will start to identify locations of active clusters next week. Previously, the state had left the decision to name clusters up to local officials.

The Sedgwick County Health Department in August reported two new nursing home clusters and three more business clusters. There have been a total of two correctional facilities, four religious institutions, 11 businesses and 16 nursing homes with clusters, as of Aug. 31.