Coronavirus update: Kansas cases and deaths increase for first time in a month

The number of weekly COVID-19 cases and deaths in Kansas went up for the first time in a month.

On Friday, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 506 new COVID-19 cases, 10 deaths and 32 hospitalizations. The report brings the weekly total to 1,923 new COVID-19 cases and 49 deaths, which is 161 more cases and 31 more deaths than last week.

It ends four consecutive weeks of numbers dropping. The week before the figures started to drop in mid-February had 4,730 cases and 250 deaths.

Figures have been mostly dropping since reaching weekly highs of more than 19,000 cases and more than 370 deaths in November and December.

Kansas has 301,433 COVID-19 cases, 9,679 hospitalizations and 4,897 deaths.

“You’re seeing a rise in COVID again,” University of Kansas Health System Chief Medical Officer Dr. Steve Stites said this week. “It looks like there may be another surge, and it’s caused by the same things it is always caused by: when folks don’t follow the rules, the virus spreads.”

The uptick in numbers comes as communities in Kansas start to drop their mask mandates. Sedgwick County did it this week, but later discovered a statewide mask mandate is actually still in effect since commissioners dropped the local ordinance but did not reject the statewide mandate.

Vaccine

More than 753,000 Kansans, or about 25.9%, have received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Of those, 388,102 people have received both doses.

Women have outpaced men for receiving the vaccine, representing 441,568 of the 753,458 people to receive a dose. Women have been vaccinated at a rate of about 302 women per 1,000 while men are at around 214, KDHE data shows.

White residents also received more vaccines than other races and ethnicities. White Kansans have been vaccinated at a rate of about 204 per 1,000 people, Asians are roughly 140, Hispanics are around 138 and Blacks hover around 109.

Sedgwick County

Since Wednesday, Sedgwick County COVID-19 cases increased by 75 to 54,648, according to the KDHE. Sedgwick County has 727 COVID-19 deaths, or nearly 15% of all the COVID deaths in Kansas.

This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 1:29 PM.