Coronavirus updates: Kansas COVID-19 deaths increase by 23
Kansas reported 481 COVID-19 deaths on Friday, which is an increase of 23 from Wednesday and the biggest increase since the Kansas Department of Health and Environment changed its reporting days.
On May 13, the KDHE switched from daily reports to Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
KDHE spokeswoman Kristi Zears said in an email to the Associated Press that the increase stemmed from a review of death certificates and didn’t necessarily represent an increase over a two-day period.
The biggest increase in deaths was the 85-plus age group, which saw a jump of 13. All of the newly reported deaths were of people age 55 and older. The median age of deaths is 79; the youngest is 18 and the oldest is 106.
Cases increased by 1,280, making it the 15th time out of roughly 50 reports that the number has surpassed 1,000.
Clusters increased by 13 to 541 with deaths increasing at those outbreaks by 14. Those outbreaks account for 308 of all deaths. Long-term care facilities have the most deaths, at 246. Long-term care facilities also make up 323 of 643 hospitalizations tied to outbreaks.
Kansas has had a total of 2,415 hospitalizations.
Gov. Laura Kelly said the KDHE would start reporting names and locations of clusters next week.
Sedgwick County cases climbed by 151 to 7,550, according to the KDHE. The Sedgwick County Health Department has reported 55 deaths.
Contributing: The Associated Press
Sedgwick County numbers
The Sedgwick County Health Department reported an increase of 60 cases on Friday, bringing the total to 7,222.
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’s percent of positive cases has been mostly trending down for two weeks. Last week, the number fell into the single digits for the first time since July 9. It was just under 8.5% on Thursday, the latest day available.
Sedgwick County Health Officer Dr. Garold Minns told county commissioners this week that the numbers were trending in the right direction because of people complying with the mask ordinance, which he extended from Sept. 8 to Oct. 21.
Sedgwick County has identified 39 clusters. Long-term care facilities account for 20 clusters and at least 37 deaths. Cases from clusters at correctional facilities also continue to climb. Since Monday, cases at those clusters have risen by 110 to 946. The correctional facility clusters have been identified at the Wichita Work Release Facility and Sedgwick County Jail.
Harvey County Detention Center reports first COVID-19 case
The first COVID-19 case at the Harvey County Detention Center was reported Friday. The inmate was recently booked into the jail and put in a 14-day quarantine cell as part of a precautionary measure the jail has taken for new inmates. No additional testing is expected since the inmate didn’t have close contact with deputies or the general population.
This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 2:12 PM.