KDHE identifies active COVID clusters. Here are the ones in the Wichita area.

The coronavirus continues to sweep through Kansas meatpacking plants, with thousands of cases attributed to active clusters, according to new data released Wednesday by state officials.

The disclosure marked the first time the Kansas Department of Health and Environment made public a list of active COVID-19 clusters. Past policy limited public identification of cluster sites.

The release came as Kansas’ top health official outlined plans to ramp up testing going into the fall and business leaders voiced concerns with naming cluster sites.

The state listed four active clusters in Sedgwick County. The largest is at the Sedgwick County jail with 491 cases. The other three case clusters are long-term care facilities — Legacy on College Hill with 40 cases; Sedgwick Plaza, 5 cases, and Wichita Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing, 15 cases.

In south central Kansas most of the clusters were in state prisons, nursing homes and colleges.

Hutchinson Correction Facility reported 403 cases; Winfield prison, 17, and El Dorado prison, 12.

Hutchinson Community College had 12 cases, Bethel College in North Newton had 43 and Hesston College reported 7.

The full list of active cluster locations identified by the KDHE is available online under the cluster summary tab of the health department’s dashboard at www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/160/COVID-19-in-Kansas.

Statewide, at least 2,148 cases have been linked to six meatpacking plants, the data shows. Five of the plants are located in Kansas. One, Triumph Foods in St. Joseph, was identified as an out-of-state source of cases.

The plants are locations of some of the state’s largest outbreaks, with 647 cases reported at the National Beef plant and 594 at the Cargill plant, both in Dodge City.

The virus appears to have rippled out into the wider community as well. Numerous clusters were reported in Dodge City, including 37 cases linked to Dodge City Community College Athletics and 12 others to the school’s general population.

At Dodge City Public Schools, 27 cases have been reported. Thirteen cases are linked to a cluster at city hall.

Other notable cluster locations include:

• Seven Kansas State University Greek houses

• Emporia State University, Fort Hays State University, Pittsburg State University and Benedictine College

• The K-State and University of Kansas football teams

When Gov. Laura Kelly announced last week that KDHE was changing course and would release cluster names, she said that by sharing the information, “Kansans will be better informed about the threat of COVID-19 in their schools and communities, and will be better prepared to contain and stop the spread of the virus.”

But several statewide business groups, including the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, sent a letter to Kelly on Wednesday urging her not to release the information.

“We are unsure what the benefit of this disclosure offers, other than a public shaming of businesses where an outbreak occurs,” Kansas Chamber President and CEO Alan Cobb said in a statement.

Meatpacking plants were among the early locations of outbreaks when COVID-19 hit Kansas. Workers expressed concern over conditions that appeared to encourage the spread of the virus and make social distancing nearly impossible.

Other outbreaks are still present, according to KDHE data, at Elkhorn Valley Packing in Harper, National Beef in Liberal and Sugar Creek Packing in Frontenac.

In May, the state relaxed quarantine guidelines for meatpacking workers, allowing them to stay on the job after coming in contact with positive cases as long as they showed no symptoms. The change followed pressure from industry executives and an executive order from President Donald Trump directing meatpacking plants to stay open.

Kansas’ plants account for roughly 20% to 30% of the nation’s beef processing capacity.

In addition to meatpacking plants, KDHE data identified clusters of cases at 26 long-term care facilities, six health care facilities and four religious gatherings, including the Plevna Church in Reno County, which has 14 cases.

KDHE excluded all private event gatherings and home-based daycares from the list because of privacy reasons. Meatpacking plants and businesses were included only if they had 20 or more cases. The case threshold was set at five or more for all other types of clusters.

New testing strategy

In a pandemic task force meeting Wednesday, KDHE Secretary Lee Norman proposed to increase testing capacity and turnaround time as students return to class and average case numbers would rise.

Norman called for increased testing from private labs within businesses and in South Central Kansas through Wichita State University. He also proposed stocking up on so-called “easy tests” that can provide rapid results for use in Kansas’ K-12 schools.

Norman said he would seek to create a group to coordinate testing strategies.

“This is not going to be a fun fall and winter,” Norman said, predicting increases in coronavirus cases.

The expanded testing strategy, he said, will be a “shot in the arm” to prepare the state.

The three strategies would cost the state just over $53 million. The task force’s executive committee voted to pass the proposal to the State Finance Council for approval.

This story was originally published September 9, 2020 at 12:17 PM.