Two of 10 school outbreaks of COVID-19 have been identified in Sedgwick County
There have been 10 coronavirus clusters at schools in Sedgwick County, but only two have been publicly identified by government health officials.
The Sedgwick County Health Department’s COVID-19 dashboard showed 10 total clusters at schools as of Tuesday. The local health department has only identified Derby High School, which was the first outbreak reported after schools reopened.
Those 10 clusters have had 155 total cases, 129 of which are still active. Sedgwick County has not released information on school clusters, other than Derby High, following multiple requests for information.
One additional cluster at Maize Elementary School was identified on Wednesday by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
The cluster report comes as KDHE statistics show an average of more than 500 new cases of COVID-19 per day in Sedgwick County over the past week. Hospitalizations continue to increase as medical facilities are strained by a lack of beds and a shortage of staff.
The KDHE publishes a weekly list of active coronavirus clusters that meet certain criteria. The majority of active clusters are not identified. Statewide, the KDHE on Wednesday reported 13 new clusters at schools in the past week. There have been 65 total clusters at schools, with 36 of those still active.
There have been an additional 40 total clusters connected to sports, which includes both high school sports and college sports, among others. There have been 52 total clusters at colleges or universities.
Clusters are generally defined as two or more cases connected by a common place and time. Just because multiple students or teachers at the same school test positive for COVID-19 does not necessarily mean it is a cluster.
Sedgwick County Health Director Adrienne Byrne told Wichita’s Board of Education on Oct. 30 that most cases at schools did not involve outbreaks at school. Rather, the students and staff were infected out in the community, but did not spread it to each other while at school.
At that point, the local health department had found and named just the one school cluster in Derby.
The KDHE had first identified a cluster on the Derby High School football team before later identifying a cluster at the school itself. It is unclear whether the state health department considered the football team to be a separate outbreak or part of the larger outbreak at the school.
Derby High School remains an active cluster more than a month after it was first identified, with seven cluster cases in the last two weeks.
Maize Elementary School has had nine cases in the last two weeks. It was first named on Wednesday.
Both districts are among many in the Wichita area to restrict in-person classes as the pandemic worsens across the region. Maize is moving all students remote while Derby is moving older students online.
Schools have not called off winter sports.
“Contact sports played indoors will be at very high risk for COVID-19 transmission this winter, especially as our community numbers increase,” Dr. Paul Teran, a pediatrician, told Wichita’s school board on Monday. “Spectators at those indoor sports will be at a very high risk for COVID-19 transmission.”
Many districts have restricted or banned fans.
“Unfortunately, the district has experienced challenges related to guests and spectators not complying with COVID-19-related health and safety measures, including properly wearing face masks,” Maize Superintendent Chad Higgins said Tuesday in a statement.
When Wichita started letting fans attend games last month, school board member Mike Rodee doubted their ability to follow the rules.
“If we do allow this, I want to make sure that the parents realize that they’re the ones that are going to kill basketball and whatever comes in the spring with softball and those sports,” Rodee said Oct. 5. “This is the trial that is going to make the decision on what happens, and it could wipe out the whole sporting deal.”
Other clusters in the area
The KDHE’s list identified several more active clusters in the Wichita area and their number of cases in the last two weeks.
In Sedgwick County, in addition to the two schools, the KDHE list identified Wesley hospital with seven cases and Orchard Gardens long-term care facility in Wichita with 12 cases.
In Butler County, El Dorado Correctional Facility had 17 cases. Victoria Falls long-term care facility in Andover had 11 cases.
In Reno County, Farris Elementary School and Hutchinson High School each had five cases. Hutchinson Correctional Facility had 280, Reflection Living long-term care facility in Hutchinson had six and Sunshine Meadows Retirement Community in Buhler had 12.
In Harvey County, Newton High School had seven cases, Asbury Park long-term care facility in Newton had 12 and AGCO Corp. in Hesston had 14.
In Sumner County, Villa Maria Skilled Nursing in Mulvane had five cases.
In Cowley County, the Church of the Nazarene in Winfield had five cases.
There are likely additional active clusters in the Wichita area that were not identified by the KDHE.
KDHE coronavirus numbers
As hospital beds and the staff to care for patients have become scarce across the state, Kansas reported 114 new hospitalizations and 32 new ICU admissions for COVID-19 over two days.
In Sedgwick County, where both Wesley Medical Center and Ascension Via Christi hospitals hit their ICU capacity more than a week ago, the KDHE reported nine new hospitalizations and two new ICU admissions between Monday and Wednesday.
The state also had 5,672 new cases and 34 new deaths during that time. Kansas has now had 109,225 total confirmed and probable cases, 4,252 total hospitalizations and 1,215 total deaths.
Sedgwick County had 1,094 new cases in two days. There have been a total of 18,326 cases, according to the KDHE. Over the last week, Sedgwick County has averaged about 519 new cases each day.
This story was originally published November 11, 2020 at 1:35 PM.