Kansas reports 1,488 new COVID-19 cases, 85 new hospitalizations and 80 more deaths

Kansas public health officials reported another record-breaking increase in COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, though a majority of them were due to a review of death certificates.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 80 new deaths, raising the total for the coronavirus pandemic to 952 deaths. The death count breaks the record for the most in any Monday-Wednesday-Friday report from the KDHE. The increase was due in part to a reconciliation of death certificates, which identified 55 of the deaths.

The deaths included two people in the 25-34 age group, one in the 35-44 group, two in the 45-54 group, 10 in the 55-64 group, 12 in the 65-74 group, 24 in the 75-84 group and 29 in the 85 and older group.

The state reported 1,488 new COVID-19 cases, including 191 children. There have been 74,456 total cases in Kansas.

The 3,506 total hospitalizations was a statewide increase of 85, which included patients in every age group except for 10-17 years old. There were 23 new ICU admissions, putting the total at 975.

Sedgwick County had 258 new cases, raising the local cumulative total reported by the state health department to 11,185. It also had 14 more residents hospitalized and four more admitted to ICUs. The county has had 461 total people hospitalized, including 113 in the ICU. There were no new deaths reported by the county health department.

The weekly cluster location list, which on Wednesday featured 49 of 235 active clusters in the state, added one new outbreak in Sedgwick County: Medicalodges of Goddard.

In Reno County, new active clusters were identified at Saltcity Cowboy Church in South Hutchinson and TECH Inc. in Hutchinson. State prisons in Butler and Cowley county — the El Dorado and Winfield correctional facilities — were also added to the list.

There were 40 new clusters in the last week. The 846 total clusters account for 16,605 cases, 848 hospitalizations and 508 deaths.

The weekly nursing home metric, which is a measure of the positive test rate and the level of testing compared to population, had 35 of the state’s 105 counties in the red zone. The nursing home red zone equates to a positive test rate above 10% in the county, which means long-term care facilities must test their staff at least twice a week.

The rule was set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

In the Wichita area, Reno, Harvey and Butler counties are in the red zone. Sedgwick, Sumner, Cowley and Kingman counties are in the yellow zone, which equates to a positive rate between 5% and 10%. Nursing homes in yellow zone counties must test their staff at least once a week.

This story was originally published October 21, 2020 at 4:38 PM.