KDHE names four active coronavirus clusters in Wichita area, including two churches

State public health officials identified active coronavirus clusters again on Wednesday, including four in the Wichita area.

The local clusters of COVID-19 cases identified by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment include two in Sedgwick County and two in Reno County.

In Wichita, the state identified outbreaks at Mending Place Church and the Meridian Rehabilitation and Health Center nursing home. The nursing home has had five cases in the last two weeks while the church has had 12.

In Hutchinson, the KDHE named clusters at Apostolic Faith Tabernacle and the Hutchinson Correctional Facility, which had previously been identified. The religious center has had seven cases in the last two weeks while the prison has had six.

Wednesday was the second time the KDHE identified active clusters in the state, though many were not included. The weekly outbreak data listed 211 active clusters statewide, but only 29 met the criteria to be identified.

Releasing the statistics is intended “to empower Kansans to be more proactive about assessing their own personal risk,” the KDHE’s COVID-19 dashboard states.

The criteria kept about 86% of active clusters off the list. That meant locations were not identified for outbreaks at two bars, one camp, 25 colleges or universities, six correctional facilities, one daycare, five governments, 12 group living facilities, nine health care facilities, 52 nursing homes, six meatpacking plants, 26 private businesses, 13 private events, three religious gatherings, one restaurant, 10 schools and 10 sports.

The criteria includes most outbreaks with five or more cases among Kansas residents with symptom onset dates in the last 14 days. The number of cases on the list only include cases within the last two weeks.

Locations are removed from the list once there are no longer five or more cases with symptom onset dates in the last two weeks. Home-based daycares and private events are excluded due to privacy concerns.

“This publication is in keeping with the KDHE effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 disease by notifying the public of recent risk of exposure,” the agency’s policy states. “Notifications of this type are provided when the KDHE believes that the notification will benefit the public and aid in stopping the spread of the disease.”

There have been 8,022 cases, 257 hospitalizations and 128 deaths attributed to the 211 active clusters.

There have been 636 total clusters, accounting for 12,502 cases, 706 hospitalizations and 365 deaths. There were 40 new clusters reported in the last week. The totals had increases of 525 cases, 19 hospitalizations and 19 deaths.

The KDHE reported 12 new coronavirus outbreaks at nursing homes, four more health care facilities and three additional group homes. Three bars and one restaurant have new clusters, as do three private businesses, three private events and three religious gatherings.

There were six more schools with outbreaks and one new sports cluster. There was one fewer college or university cluster. Two governments have new outbreaks.

The KDHE reported a total of 55,226 cases and 621 deaths on Wednesday. There were 1,267 new cases and 21 new deaths since Monday. By age groups, there was one new death among patients ages 25-34, two 45-54, one 55-64, five 65-74, six 75-84 and six 85 and older.

“The increase in deaths from Monday’s report is in part attributed to review of death registration information,” the KDHE report states.

There also have been 2,766 hospitalizations and 437,055 negative tests. There were 60 new hospitalizations and 6,333 more negative tests over the last two days. There were 12 more ICU admissions and 10 more patients place on ventilators. There was at least one new hospitalization in every age group except for 10-17.

Sedgwick County had six of the new hospitalizations reported by the state, as well as one new ICU admission and one moroe patient on a ventilator. One of the patients was in the infant to 9-year-old age group while the other five were in the 45-54 and 55-64 groups.

In the Wichita area:

• Sedgwick County has 8,577 cases, which is an increase of 112;
• Reno County has 1,065 cases, which is an increase of 41;
• Butler County has 906 cases, which is an increase of 14;
• Cowley County has 359 cases, which is an increase of 11;
• Harvey County has 347 cases, which is an increase of five;
• Sumner County has 186 cases, which is an increase of one;
• Kingman County has 84 cases, which is an increase of six.

The Sedgwick County Health Department reported a lower case total at 8,149. Discrepancies in the total between the state and local health departments can be due to delays in communication. Additionally, the local agency only includes confirmed cases while the state adds probable cases.

Wednesday’s report from the Sedgwick County Health Department was a daily increase of 42 new cases, including six children. There were no new deaths, keeping the total at 85. There were 1,527 more people tested, raising the total to 99,287.

The local positive test rate has been relatively stable over the past few days. The most recent data gives a 14-day rolling average of 4.76% on Tuesday. It was also 4.76% on Monday and was 4.77% on Sunday.

Black community receives pandemic assistance

The Wichita Black Alliance announced that it has received assistance to curb the spread of coronavirus in the Black community.

The Alliance has distributed 6,650 free masks to the public and has received $10,000 in support from Evergy’s Community Response Fund, the Alliance announced in a news release. The group has been donated more than 26,100 masks from Bank of America, Mayor Brandon Whipple, Music Theatre Wichita and others.

“More masks will be distributed as we prepare for a spike in positive COVID tests,” Alliance officials said.

State and local data shows the Black community has been disproportionately affected by the virus.

This story was originally published September 23, 2020 at 12:31 PM.