CDC puts 4 Kansas counties at high COVID community level this week. See latest map
Four Kansas counties are at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s high COVID-19 community level as of Friday.
Morton, Stevens, Seward and Barber counties are all labeled as high. Sedgwick County remains at the low level for another week.
In all, 14 Kansas counties are at medium level. Last week, five counties were at high and 17 were at medium.
The CDC updates the metric each Thursday for U.S. counties and bases the assessment on the number of new cases and hospitalizations per 100,000 people (seven-day totals) and the percent of staffed hospital beds occupied by COVID-positive patients (a seven-day average).
The CDC reports 1.5% of staffed in-patient beds in Sedgwick County are filled by confirmed COVID-19 patients.
For counties at a low community level, the CDC recommends people to stay up-to-date with boosters, avoid contact with COVID-positive people and follow quarantine guidelines if you test positive for the virus.
The current isolation guidelines say to stay home for five days from symptom onset. You should wear a high-quality mask if you have to be around people, and if you are then symptom free, you can break isolation. If not, isolate until you are fever-free for 24 hours and your symptoms show improvement.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment labels Sedgwick County at a “substantial” incident rate for another week, with a rate of 50 cases per 100,000 people.
KDHE has 18 counties at a high rate, compared to last week’s 25. A high rate means there are 100 cases or more per 100,000 people. Nineteen counties sit at the low rate.
A closer look at COVID-19 in Sedgwick County
The positive test rate in Sedgwick County dropped to 7.8% as of Feb. 9, according to the county’s COVID-19 dashboard. The rate accounts for the 14-day average of recorded positives over the total number administered and does not include at-home tests and those not reported to the Sedgwick County Health Department.
Last week, the test rate was about 8%. The last time the county was in the 7% range was the week of Jan. 23, when the positive test rate dropped to 7.2%. The county has hovered below 10% since mid-December.
There have been 162 new cases reported to the county from Feb. 3 to 9. The most cases reported in a single day was 33 cases Feb. 6.
The dashboard is updated every Friday.
