Derby’s football team and Buhler Grade School are coronavirus clusters, KDHE says

The football team at Derby High School was identified as an active coronavirus cluster by state public health officials.

Another school in the Wichita area — Buhler Grade School — was also named as the location of an active cluster of COVID-19 cases.

The updated list of COVID-19 exposure locations was released by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment on Wednesday. It features only a portion of the 219 active clusters in the state.

The KDHE report lists the Derby High School football team as having 14 cases in the past two weeks. Buhler Grade School in Reno County has had nine cases.

The only other active cluster on the list in Sedgwick County is the Wichita Work Release Facility’s September outbreak, which has had five cases in the past two weeks.

Also in Reno County, Apostolic Faith Tabernacle in Hutchinson has had seven cases in the past two weeks and Mennonite Friendship Communities in South Hutchinson has had six cases. The Hutchinson Correctional Facility has had 85 cases in the past 14 days.

In Butler County, the El Dorado Correctional Facility has had 57 cases in the past two weeks.

Derby Public Schools will continue with in-person classes at all grade levels and will allow sports to continue. The USD 260 gating criteria committee met on Wednesday and made the decision to stay in-person for the next two weeks.

Derby schools remain in the yellow zone of the district’s reopening plan, despite two Sedgwick County indicators being in the red zone, according to KDHE data.

The weekly cluster report from the KDHE named 39 of 219 active outbreaks of COVID-19 cases. There have been 707 total clusters, which account for 13,809 cases, 738 hospitalizations and 401 deaths.

There were 71 new clusters reported over the past week.

In education and athletics, there were new clusters at nine schools, four sports and four colleges or universities. In the medical and nursing home communities, there were 32 more outbreaks at long-term care facilities and four more at health care facilities.

Two new clusters were identified at correctional facilities, and there was one more in a government office. There were also new outbreaks at one meatpacking plant, seven private businesses and eight private events.

One restaurant was removed from the overall cluster count.

The KDHE reported 1,120 new cases of COVID-19 and 41 new deaths attributed to the coronavirus disease on Wednesday. The increases were since Monday’s report. The death increase, which was the second-highest of any Monday-Wednesday-Friday report, was due in part to a review of vital statistics, KDHE officials said.

The new deaths included one COVID-19 patient in the 25-34 age group, three in the 55-64 group, eight in the 65-74 group, 17 in the 75-84 group and 12 people who were 85 or older.

There have now been 678 total deaths out of 59,749 total cases statewide. Sedgwick County has had 9,102 total cases after an increase of 94, according to the KDHE. The Sedgwick County Health Department reported a total of 93 deaths on Wednesday, which was an increase of seven from Tuesday’s report.

“All seven of the newly reported deaths on the dashboard occurred in late August or early September and were over the age of 60,” Sedgwick County officials said in a statement.

Statewide, there have been 461,701 negative tests, which was an increase of 6,421.

There have also been 2,917 total coronavirus hospitalizations in Kansas, which was an increase of 65. That includes 801 admissions to intensive care units, which was an increase of 16, and 255 patients on ventilators, which was an increase of four. There have been 2,095 discharges, which were up 44.

Every age group except for 10-17 had at least one new hospitalization.

Among Sedgwick County residents, there have been totals of 402 hospitalizations, 90 ICU admissions, 18 patients on ventilators and 275 discharges. Those were increases of 11 hospitalizations, three ICU admissions and three discharges.

A White House report issued Monday stated that the number of hospitalizations may be under-counted. The report was obtained by The Center for Public Integrity.

“Underreporting may lead to a lower allocation of critical supplies,” the White House report states.

The report also classifies Kansas as a red zone based on the rate of new cases compared to population. Kansas has the 10th-highest rate in the country. The state also has the ninth-highest positive test rate, which is in the orange zone.

The White House report also recommends that state leaders: “Develop age-segmented and geographic relevant messaging to keep Kansans compliant with mitigation efforts including wearing face masks.”

This story was originally published September 30, 2020 at 12:36 PM.