Sedgwick County passes 600 deaths from COVID-19, KDHE reports

More than 600 people who lived in the Wichita area have died from the coronavirus disease, state health officials report.

Sedgwick County has now had 52,198 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, 1,310 hospitalizations, 376 ICU admissions and 617 deaths since the pandemic started, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s Wednesday report.

Between Monday and Wednesday, the KDHE reported 362 new cases, 30 new hospitalizations, 10 new ICU admissions and 20 new deaths in Sedgwick County.

Statewide, Kansas has now had 284,894 cases, 8,840 hospitalizations, 2,401 ICU admissions and 4,303 deaths in total. Since Monday, there were 1,934 new cases, 91 new hospitalizations, 28 new ICU admissions and 106 new deaths reported.

Vaccine statistics

The KDHE reported on Wednesday that 552,775 total doses have been distributed to the state, which was an increase of 60,525 from Monday’s report. There have been 331,022 total doses administered, which was an increase of 27,331 since Monday.

State health officials say they believe that number is an under-count due to reporting lags.

There have been 248,977 first shots, or about 8.5% of the population, and 82,045 second doses, or about 2.8% of the population.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Wednesday that 553,750 doses had been delivered and 319,662 had been administered in Kansas. The state’s rate of doses administered per capita ranked 48th in the country, ahead of Missouri and Alabama.

The KDHE reported 5,850 doses distributed to Sedgwick County.

The Sedgwick County Health Department reported 748 new second doses and 1,195 first doses administered on Monday and Tuesday.

There have now been 25,345 total doses administered by the local health department. That number does not include shots given by other providers in Sedgwick County, such as hospitals and nursing homes.

No new variant cases in Hays

After epidemiologists identified the first case in Kansas of the United Kingdom coronavirus variant, no additional variant cases have been found.

The UK variant case was a student-athlete at Fort Hays State University, who was identified through the university’s weekly surveillance testing and KDHE genome sequencing. Contact tracing of the student and follow-up testing of close contacts resulted in no additional cases.

Additional testing in Hays resulted in no additional variant cases, according to a news release from the KDHE, the university and the Ellis County Health Department.

Emerging coronavirus variants, including the UK variant, have mutations that allow them to spread more rapidly through a community. Some Kansas doctors have voiced concern that a variant outbreak could lead to a new surge in cases. Currently, coronavirus trends are improving.

This story was originally published February 10, 2021 at 2:28 PM.