KDHE data shows COVID deaths 43% higher in Sedgwick County than local report

State and local health reports disagree on the total number of COVID-19 deaths in Sedgwick County, though officials for both agencies say their number is accurate.

Kansas Department of Health and Environment data shows a death count that is 43% higher than what the Sedgwick County Health Department reports.

The KDHE’s coronavirus dashboard was updated Wednesday with a new feature that allows users to see how many of the state’s deaths have been in each county. It listed 315 deaths in Sedgwick County.

But Sedgwick County officials on Wednesday reported the death count at 220 people.

Both the KDHE and Sedgwick County say they report verified COVID-19 deaths.

“We do use death certificate data to verify our deaths, so it’s possible Sedgwick (County) may not have accounted for those yet in their counts,” KDHE spokesperson Kristi Zears said in an email.

“Sedgwick County only reports the deaths once KDHE has verified that they are a COVID-19 death with the Office of Vital Statistics,” county spokesperson Kate Flavin said in an email. “Another reason may be that KDHE counts probable and confirmed cases, while the County only includes confirmed cases in our numbers.”

Flavin said the 220 deaths listed on the county’s dashboard are the “confirmed and verified deaths” they have from the state.

Zears said 315 deaths is accurate for Sedgwick County. The state uses the surveillance case definition for COVID-19 deaths from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, which includes confirmed and probable cases.

A probable COVID-19 case that ends in death and has COVID-19 recorded on the death certificate would still be counted as a verified COVID-19 death in the state’s vital statistics, based on CDC reporting guidelines.

The KDHE’s death statistics are not broken down by case classification, Zears said, so it is unknown how many of Sedgwick County’s deaths were classified as probable cases.

“A COVID-19 death is any person that died where the death certificate lists COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2 as the underlying cause of death or a significant contributing factor to death,” she said.

Sedgwick County does not count cases with antigen testing. Antigen tests get results faster and cost less, but they have a higher chance of missing an active infection, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

The state’s statistics generally match those from most of the other counties in the Wichita area. When there are discrepancies, they typically are small enough they can be explained by delays in reporting between the state and local agencies.

The KDHE also notes that “death counts and data are preliminary and subject to verification.”

Both the KDHE and Butler County report 17 deaths in that county. In Reno County, local officials report 81 deaths while the state reports 80. In Harvey County, the KDHE lists 19 while the local department reports 22.

In Kingman County, the local health department reported five deaths as of Monday. The KDHE reported six as of Wednesday. In Cowley County, local officials refer to the KDHE’s website for county data. The KDHE reports 33 deaths in Cowley County.

In Sumner County, the local health department reported six deaths as of Monday. The KDHE reported 12 as of Wednesday.

The KDHE’s Wednesday update listed 4,551 new cases, 144 new deaths, 155 new hospitalizations and 44 new ICU admissions since Monday. Sedgwick County had 694 of the new cases, 18 of the new hospitalizations and seven of the ICU admissions.

The 144 new COVID-19 deaths in Kansas marked the deadliest Monday-Wednesday-Friday report from the KDHE. It is unclear how many of the statewide deaths were from the second-largest county. The state does not publicly report the dates of death, so it is unclear how recently the patients died.

Death reports can oftentimes lag behind the date of death.

The statewide new hospitalizations included patients from every age group. The deaths included patients from every age group that was 25 or older.