Kansas reports more than 500 new COVID cases. One county is at a medium community level
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has only one Kansas county at its medium COVID-19 community level as of Friday, while the rest are all at low.
Last week, two Kansas counties — Greeley and Wichita — were at high. Another two, Sheridan and Stevens, were at medium.
This week, Clay County is 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 Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 569 new cases and 11 deaths from April 19 to 26. This is 161 fewer than the prior last week, when the state reported 730 new cases.
Additionally, state officials report three Kansas counties are at a high incident rate, a state metric. Wichita, Sheridan and Jewell counties are at high, meaning they are seeing 100 or more cases per a population of 100,000 individuals.
Seven counties are labeled as experiencing a substantial incident rate, which means they are seeing 50 to 99 cases per 100,000.
Sedgwick County is at the state’s moderate rate, seeing 10 to 49 cases per 100,000 people.
COVID-19 in Sedgwick County
The Sedgwick County Health Department reports 36 new COVID-19 cases in the last seven days, 16 fewer than last week.
The most reported in a single day was eight new positive tests reported both April 24 and 25. The day with the least was two reported both April 27 and 22.
The county has a 4.1% positive test rate, according to the latest data. 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 health department.
It’s down from last week, when the county was experiencing a 5% positive test rate.
See the county’s COVID-19 dashboard below, which updates every Friday with the latest data.
Vaccinations in Kansas
According to the CDC’s vaccination tracker, only 16.7% of Kansans have received the bivalent booster, while 76.5% of the population received their first dose and 65.5% got the second one.
In Sedgwick County, only 13.1% of the population received the updated bivalent booster, and 58.1% of the county’s population got the first and second dose.
See how other counties compare using the interactive graphic below, which will update as more data become available.
