COVID-19 death reports increase by 23 in Kansas and 5 in Sedgwick County over weekend

The coronavirus death toll increased in Kansas and the Wichita area over the weekend as the Sedgwick County case count surpassed 8,000.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 534 total deaths from COVID-19 on Monday, which was an increase of 23 from Friday. The Sedgwick County Health Department reported 68 total deaths on Monday, which was up five from Friday.

The KDHE only releases coronavirus data updates on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The county releases daily updates, but no new information was available over the weekend because the online dashboard had technical difficulties.

Sedgwick County surpassed 8,000 total cases of COVID-19 on Monday as the KDHE reported 8,040 cases in the state’s second-largest county. That was an increase of 201 cases since Friday.

The county health department reported a lower number: 7,664. That was an increase of 177 by the local agency’s count.

Discrepancies in the data can be due to a delay in reporting between the state and local governments. Additionally, Sedgwick County only reports confirmed cases while the KDHE includes probable cases.

The Kansas case total increased by 1,513 to 49,899 cases. There were 35 new hospitalizations, bringing the total to 2,572.

In Wichita, Ascension Via Christi and Wesley Healthcare officials reported the best ICU numbers since Sedgwick County started tracking. As of Monday morning, there were 35 ICU beds available out of approximately 208 total ICU beds, which is the most since the county first reported the statistic on July 20.

There were 19 patients with COVID-19 in the ICUs, which is the fewest since July 6. There were 44 total coronavirus disease patients in the hospitals, which is also the lowest since July 6.

The county only reports the number of current hospitalizations once a week.

The local positive test rate hit 6.06% on Saturday, which was the lowest percentage for the rolling 14-day average since June 26. The value ticked up to 6.39% on Sunday, though that number will likely be revised as additional test results are reported.

On Friday, the county had originally reported the latest positivity rate at 8.61% for Thursday. The Thursday number has since been revised to 6.79%.

Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple shared images of the hospitalization and positive test rate graphs to his Facebook page.

“Well done Wichita!” he wrote. “Our #COVID_19 numbers keep trending downward. While on a call with our Governor & the White House covid19 taskforce last week, we were mentioned as a bright light in Kansas as other areas are seeing increases.”

Of the 177 new cases reported by Sedgwick County, 29 were in the infant to 19-year-old age group. The 20-39 age group added 76, the 40-59 group added 38, the 60-79 group added 28 and the 80 and older group added six.

One of the new cases was travel-related, 65 were likely community spread and 71 were close contacts of a confirmed case. The other 39 cases are still under investigation for the source of exposure.

Of the 23 new deaths in the state, all of the patients were older than 45. One was in the 45-54 age group, three were 55-64, six were 65-74, 11 were 75-84 and two were 85 or older.

Sedgwick County does not release information on patients who die from COVID-19.

There were an additional 3,339 people tested in Sedgwick County over the weekend, bringing the total to 90,234.

The KDHE reported 408,482 total negative tests, which was an increase of 7,938.

The state did not report any new information on coronavirus clusters. Data on mass outbreaks is now released on Wednesdays only.

This story was originally published September 14, 2020 at 12:46 PM.