1 million Kansans have been vaccinated against COVID with at least one dose, CDC says

More than 1 million Kansans have been vaccinated against COVID-19 with at least one dose, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

Meanwhile, Wichita hospitals experienced their first week-over-week increase in COVID-19 patients since the fall surge, and Sedgwick County has the most coronavirus variant cases in the state.

As of Monday, there have been 1,097,450 people vaccinated with at least one dose in Kansas, according to the CDC. That is about 37.7% of the state population, which ranks No. 21 of 50 states.

The 666,644 Kansans who are fully vaccinated account for about 22.9% of the state population, which ranks No. 27 in the country.

“Since the vaccine first arrived in Kansas, my administration has prioritized getting shots in arms as quickly and efficiently as possible — and those efforts are paying off,” Gov. Laura Kelly said Monday in a news release. “Getting a third of Kansans their first dose is a significant milestone for our state, and further evidence that we are well on our way back to that sense of normal we’ve been seeking for over a year.”

Vaccination reports by the CDC have been slightly higher than reports by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. While the CDC reported a week ago that Kansas hit the one-third mark, the KDHE’s numbers surpassed that point on Monday.

“Today’s announcement is a team effort and the result of a tremendous amount of work from local public health departments, health care providers, community leaders, and countless others,” Marci Nielsen, chief adviser to the governor for COVID-19 Coordination, said in a statement. “I want to thank everyone for their efforts. Governor Kelly’s administration will continue putting in the work to ensure every Kansan can get a vaccine as quickly as possible.”

Kansas continues to rank in the bottom half of the country at the rate of doses administered per capita. Kansas ranked No. 32 on Monday, the same as last Monday. The state has improved its ranking from Nos. 34, 37 and 42 over the previous weeks.

Kansas ranks highly at vaccinating senior citizens, defined as people who are 65 or older. The state has the ninth-best rate with 84.8% of the senior citizen population vaccinated with at least one dose.

“Though more Kansans are getting vaccinated and case numbers are declining, we can’t take our foot off the gas,” Kelly said. “The pandemic isn’t over. I encourage all Kansans to get vaccinated, and also continue wearing masks, physically distancing, avoiding large groups, and getting tested.”

Coronavirus indicators

As vaccination rates continue to climb, concern has grown over the spread of variants and new surges elsewhere in the United States. Kansas has among the best case rates in the country and one of the lowest proportions of cases caused by variants.

Newly-released KDHE data on variant cases by county show Kansas has had 133 known coronavirus variant cases across 22 counties.

Sedgwick County has the most with 46. That’s more than double the county with the second-most, which is Shawnee County with 22.

Three of the CDC’s five variants of concern have been identified in Kansas. The vast majority — 127 cases — are from the United Kingdom variant. Two more cases are from the South Africa variant and four cases are from a California variant.

The KDHE on Monday reported statewide pandemic totals of 304,719 confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases, 9,872 hospitalizations, 2,723 ICU admissions and 4,930 deaths. Over the weekend, there were 483 new cases, 20 new hospitalizations, six new ICU admissions and zero new deaths.

State data showed that Sedgwick County had half of the new ICU admissions and more than half of the new hospitalizations.

Sedgwick County, according to the KDHE, has had totals of 55,198 cases, 1,631 hospitalizations, 509 ICU admissions and 735 deaths. The Friday to Monday increases were 113 new cases, 12 new hospitalizations, three new ICU admissions and no new deaths.

The Sedgwick County Health Department’s weekly Wichita hospital status showed that admissions rose for the first time in months. Ascension Via Christi and Wesley Healthcare facilities were treating a combined 40 COVID-19 patients on Monday, up from 30 last week. It was the first week-over-week increase since Nov. 30, according to health department reports.

The Wichita hospitals have 11 of those COVID-19 patients in ICUs, which is up from eight a week ago.

Monday’s update revised down previous death reports, dropping the statewide death county by eight and the Sedgwick County total by two. While no explanation was provided in the report, the KDHE said last week that normal review processes of initial COVID-19 death reports occasionally determine that COVID-19 was not the main cause or contributing cause of death.

While statewide case rates have mostly trended down since early January, some age groups had increases in the past week. The 14-17 age group was one of those and it currently has the highest case rate in Kansas.

State and county vaccine data

The CDC’s county-level vaccination statistics show Sedgwick County still ranks poorly, but is improving relative to other counties.

As of Monday, Sedgwick County ranks eighth-worst of the 105 Kansas counties with 16.3% of the population fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. Sedgwick County is ninth-worst with 21.8% of the adult population fully vaccinated and 23rd-worst with 52.3% of the senior citizen population fully vaccinated.

A week ago, Sedgwick County ranked third-worst, second-worst and seventh-worst in those same three categories, respectively.

There have been 84,044 people fully vaccinated in Sedgwick County, the CDC reports.

The Sedgwick County Health Department as of Monday has administered 168,869 total doses and fully vaccinated 65,713 people. Over the weekend, 6,970 more people were fully vaccinated. The local health department’s numbers do not include vaccinations by other providers, such as pharmacies.

The KDHE reports slightly lower vaccination totals than the CDC. The state agency reports 1,564,848 doses administered out of 1,997,800 doses distributed to the state; 995,616 people have been vaccinated with at least one dose, and 616,609 people are fully vaccinated.

Over the weekend, 27,600 first shots were administered and 37,095 more people were fully inoculated, according to the KDHE.