Kansas has 99 of 105 counties in the red zone for new COVID cases. Only 1 is green.

The worsening spread of the coronavirus now has 99 out of 105 Kansas counties in the red zone for the rate of new COVID-19 cases.

Kansas Department of Health and Environment data released Monday shows more of the state is in the red zone for that indicator than at any other point during the coronavirus pandemic.

The rate of new COVID-19 cases compared to population and the positive test rate are two key indicators measured by the KDHE that are used in the state’s school reopening guide.

Only one county — Elk County in southeast Kansas — is in the green zone of both indicators. Schools in the green zone are the only ones that should have all classes in-person and allow all sports and other extracurricular activities, according to the reopening guide.

The guide does not specify whether one red indicator is sufficient for a school district to be in the red zone, which moves all classes online only and stops all sports. There are 99 counties in the red zone of the case rate, with 50 of those also in the red zone of the positive test rate.

In one week, Kansas went from the case rate indicator having one green, nine yellow, 15 orange and 80 red counties to one green, one yellow, four orange and 99 red counties. The positive test rate went from 14 green, 38 yellow, 16 orange and 37 red counties to six green, 28 yellow, 21 orange and 50 red counties.

The yellow and orange zones of the school reopening guide have various restrictions on education and athletics, such as hybrid learning and stopping football and other high-risk activities. Local school districts are not required to follow the plan.

Monday’s update from the KDHE used two weeks of data through Saturday.

The case rate 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.

In the Wichita area, the rate of new cases per 100,000 people increased all seven surrounding counties.

• Sedgwick County’s rate increased from 225 to 549.
• Reno County’s rate increased from 560 to 734.
• Butler County’s rate increased from 218 to 396.
• Harvey County’s rate increased from 229 to 639.
• Cowley County’s rate increased from 155 to 266.
• Sumner County’s rate increased from 188 to 447.
• Kingman County’s rate increased from 280 to 447.

The positive test rate is a measure of new cases compared to new tests. The Wichita area had increasing positivity rates in all seven counties. Rates above 15% are in the red zone, rates between 10% and 15% are in the orange zone and rates between 5% and 10% are in the yellow zone of the KDHE’s guide.

• Sedgwick County’s rate increased from 11.51% to 16.81%
  
  
• Reno County’s rate increased from 19.41% to 19.51%.
  
  
• Butler County’s rate increased from 11.45% to 12.53%.
  
  
• Harvey County’s rate increased from 9.83% to 13.38%.
  
  
• Cowley County’s rate increased from 7.66% to 9.09%.
  
  
• Sumner County’s rate increased from 17.89% to 23.80%.
  
  
• Kingman County’s rate increased from 7.20% to 9.51%.
  
  

The rates could be under-counted because the most recent data may not be complete, according to a KDHE note. While more than 94% of Kansas counties are in the red zone, the highest case rates are in rural areas.

A week ago, there were seven counties with two-week rates higher than 1,000 new cases per 100,000 people. Now, there are 16 counties. A rate of 1,000 is 567% higher than the red zone threshold of 150.

Those 16 counties are Norton at 5,783; Ellwsorth at 3,753; Wallace at 3,096; Sheridan at 2,816; Decatur at 2,370; Logan at 1,718; Trego at 1,356; Thomas at 1,337; Gove at 1,328; Sherman at 1,284; Finney at 1,193; Barber at 1,107; Grant at 1,105; Nemaha at 1,065; Greeley at 1,055; and Cloud at 1,024.