Worst week for COVID cases puts Sedgwick County at 16.81% positive test rate
Last week was the worst week of the pandemic for the rate of new coronavirus cases in both Sedgwick County and Kansas.
Data on COVID-19 released Monday by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment show worsening indicators statewide and in Wichita.
Kansas had 4,046 new cases of COVID-19 over the weekend — by far the largest increase in any Monday-Wednesday-Friday report from the KDHE. Sedgwick County alone had 1,051 new cases over the weekend. That is about 26% of the entire statewide increase, despite having only about 18% of the state’s population.
The KDHE also reported 17 new deaths and 61 new hospitalizations on Monday. The increases are since the department’s Friday report. The COVID-19 patients who died were all 45 years old or older.
Sedgwick County had 15 new hospitalizations and five new ICU admissions, the KDHE reported. The new hospitalizations were all of people older than 24.
The state health department reported that indicators for measuring the community spread of COVID-19 in Sedgwick County are the worst they have been. The indicators are for a two-week period ending Saturday.
Sedgwick County has had two weeks in a row of record-setting increases in new cases. The incidence rate, which is a measure of new cases over two weeks compared to population, is 266% above the state’s red zone threshold for closing schools. The KDHE reported about 549 new cases per 100,000 people in Sedgwick County over two weeks.
The one-week rates were about 336 new cases per 100,000 people last week and about 214 new cases per 100,000 people two weeks ago.
The KDHE uses a red zone threshold of 150 new cases per 100,000 people over two weeks. The White House COVID-19 task force uses a one-week rate of 100 new cases per 100,000 as the red zone threshold.
Measuring disease rates per 100,000 people is common practice in public health. A rate of 150 new cases per 100,000 people is equivalent to 15 new cases per 10,000 people or 1.5 new cases per 1,000 people.
The positive test rate is also the highest it has been in the Wichita metro area. The two-week positivity rate is 16.81%, which is also above the state’s red zone threshold for closing schools to in-person classes and stopping sports.
The one-week rate was 20.04% last week, meaning about one out of every five people tested for the coronavirus in Sedgwick County had a positive result. The rate was 13.46% the week before.
The KDHE uses a two-week rate above 15% as the red zone threshold. The White House uses a one-week rate above 10% as its red zone threshold.
For just last week’s numbers in Sedgwick County, the 45-54 age group was the worst for both categories. It had a 25.16% positive test rate and about 494 new cases per 100,000 people in one week. The 10-17 age group had the second-worst positive test rate at 23.83% while the 18-24 age group had the second-worst incidence rate at about 450 new cases per 100,000 people.
Kansas as a whole has had four consecutive weeks of record-setting case rates. The two-week incidence rate as of Saturday was about 449 new cases per 100,000 people. The one-week rate was about 248 new cases per 100,000 people.
The statewide two-week positive test rate was 12.61%. The one-week rate was 15.27%, which is the third-worst weekly rate since the pandemic hit. Only twice in April did Kansas have a higher one-week positive test rate.