Only 3 Kansas counties have COVID case and positive test rates in school green zone
Only three counties in Kansas have COVID-19 case rates and positive coronavirus test rates in the green zone of the state’s school reopening guide. There are 86 counties with at least one rate in the red zone, and 27 counties have both rates in the red zone.
The COVID-19 data from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment suggests that all school districts outside of Allen, Chautauqua and Woodson counties should consider restrictions on in-person classes and sports.
The Kansas State Department of Education has five school reopening indicators. The new case rate and positivity rate are the only two school reopening indicators the KDHE illustrates with statewide maps that are updated weekly.
The KDHE also releases data for a third indicator, the trend in the case rate, but does not show it on a map. Two other indicators — the local hospital capacity and the level of student absenteeism — do not have specific trackers from the KDHE.
Local school boards are not required to follow the state’s guide, which uses a color-coded matrix. The best indicators are in the green zone, which allows all grades to go to class in-person five days a week. All sports and other school activities are also permitted. The red zone is the worst, calling for online-only classes and no sports.
The yellow and orange zones have varying degrees of restrictions, such as hybrid learning and stopping high-risk activities, like football.
The state’s plan does not specify whether one indicator in the red zone is enough to put schools in the red zone of the reopening plan. More than 80% of the 105 counties in Kansas have at least one red zone indicator, as 86 counties are in the worst zone of the case rate.
The measurement compares the number of new cases of COVID-19 over two weeks with the county population, expressed as the rate of new cases per 100,000 people.
Calculating disease rates per 100,000 is common practice in public health. Both the KDHE and the White House task force on COVID-19 use versions of the measurement. The Kansas red zone rate for schools of greater than 150 cases over two weeks per 100,000 people is the same as 15 cases per 10,000 people and 1.5 cases per 1,000 people.
Every county in the Wichita area except for Harvey County had worse rates than they did a week ago. All are in the red zone, except for Sumner County.
Reno County has the highest rate in the Wichita area at 656 new cases per 100,000 people in the last two weeks. The rate was 392 in Butler County, 243 in Cowley County, 237 in Sedgwick County, 206 in Harvey County, 196 in Kingman County and 136 in Sumner County.
The rates, which are for a two-week period ending Saturday, could be under-counted because the most recent data may not be complete, according to a KDHE note.
The worst rate in the state was in Norton County, at 5,409 new cases per 100,000 people. The northwest Kansas county had 291 new cases over the last two weeks compared to its population of 5,361.
The county’s high rate can be attributed in part to outbreaks at a state prison and a nursing home. All 62 residents of the Andbe Home in Norton have tested positive and 10 of them have died, according to the local health department.
Norton County is one of seven Kansas counties — all of which are west of I-135 — with two-week rates higher than 1,000 new cases per 100,000 people. A rate of 1,000 is 567% higher than the red zone threshold of 150.
Sheridan County’s rate was 2,896 new cases per 100,000 people. The rate was 1,589 in Sherman County, 1,557 in Ellsworth County, 1,517 in Gove County, 1,132 in Decatur County and 1,018 in Ness County.
Rates must be below 50 new cases per 100,000 people for the indicator to be in the green zone, which is the only portion of the state’s reopening plan that allows all classes to be in-person and high-risk sports. Rates were 31 new cases per 100,000 people in Chatauqua County, 32 in Woodson County and 49 in Allen County.
Those three southeast Kansas counties were also in the green zone of the two-week positive test rate, meaning less than 5% of their coronavirus tests came back positive. The rates were 1.26% in Chautauqua County, 1.92% in Allen County and 2.56% in Woodson County.
There were 27 counties in the red zone of the positive test rate, which means more than 15% of tests were positive. Reno County at 15.29% was the only county in the Wichita area to be in the red zone. Butler and Harvey counties were in the orange zone while Sedgwick, Sumner, Cowley and Kingman counties were in the yellow zone.
Gove County in western Kansas had the worst rate at 56.82%.