As Kansas passes 1,000 COVID-19 deaths, Gov. Kelly orders flags flown at half-staff

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff after the state passed 1,000 COVID-19 deaths.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 1,007 total deaths from the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday, which was an increase of 31 from Monday.

“It is with deep sadness that I announce the passing of 1,007 Kansans who lost their lives to COVID-19,” Kelly said in a statement. “One of the many terrible impacts of this virus has been that families are unable to hold in-person services to mourn the passing of their loved ones. Each one of these Kansans was someone’s child, parent, or grandparent. They were part of a community. Today, I’m directing that flags be lowered to half-staff, so that we may honor and remember them.”

The flag directive starts immediately and runs through Friday.

The KDHE reported a record-high 3,369 new cases of COVID-19, though about 1,500 of those were attributed to automation of a process that had previously been done manually.

Sedgwick County alone had more than 500 new cases. The KDHE reported the county’s total at 12,515, which was an increase of 511.

Sedgwick County Manager Tom Stolz said Wednesday that one of two hospital systems in Wichita is at capacity with COVID-19 patients as the other hospital system “is not far behind.” The county health department changed it’s area hospital status assessment to “critical” with a red exclamation point.

The state reported 106 hospitalizations statewide and eight among Sedgwick County residents. Every age group in Kansas had multiple new hospitalizations. There were 34 more ICU admissions in the state, with five of the patients being from Sedgwick County.

The Sedgwick County Health Department reported two more deaths on Wednesday, raising the local total to 129. The positive test rate continues to spike, hitting 13.27%. Monday’s hospitalization numbers showed highs in current COVID-19 patients, current COVID-19 patients in the ICU and total patients in the ICU.

“Masks save lives,” Kelly said in a tweet that referenced a study by University of Kansas researchers. In another tweet referencing the study, the governor said “this is how we keep our economy open, and our kids in school.”

“Masks are the best way for us to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Support your community by masking up whenever you’re unable to safely socially distance in public.”

The KU Institute for Policy & Social Research announced its findings on Sunday. Counties with mask mandates saw a decrease in average daily cases compared to population starting about two weeks after the requirements were issued. Since then, the rate of new cases compared to population has held relatively flat.

Counties without mask mandates have had their case rates steadily increase and were about double the rate of counties with mandates as of Oct. 11, the researchers found.

Donna Ginther, the institute director, said mask mandates are associated with about seven fewer cases per 100,000 people per day in Kansas. That amounts cutting the rate of new cases in half, down from about 14.

“In Sedgwick County, that’s nine fewer cases per 100,000 per day,” she said. “It’s a 61% reduction.”

She said masks work in Kansas.

“We found a 50% reduction in the spread of COVID-19 in counties that had a mask mandate compared to those without,” Ginter said. “Masks, it is important to note, do not eliminate COVID, but they significantly slow the spread of the disease.”

This story was originally published October 28, 2020 at 12:31 PM.