Two lanes on westbound I-70 from 18th to I-635 will be closed Friday to Saturday for joint sealing, weather permitting. (KDOT map)
The inside two lanes of westbound I-70 in Wyandotte County will be closed from 18th Street to I-635 from Friday, April 17, to Saturday, April 18, according to the Kansas Department of Transportation.
Work will occur from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, weather permitting. The lane closure is necessary for joint sealing, a KDOT spokesman stated.
Traffic will be diverted using signage and traffic cones.
A KDOT spokesman urged all motorists to be alert and obey the warning signs when approaching and driving through a highway work zone. To stay aware of all road construction projects across Kansas go to www.kandrive.org or call 5-1-1.
Motorists are asked to drive safely and always wear their seat belts, the spokesman stated.
The Unified Government Health Department’s report on Thursday stated there were 19 COVID-19 related deaths at the Riverbend post-acute rehabilitation facility in Kansas City, Kansas. (UG COVID-19 website)
Four more COVID-19 deaths were reported on Thursday from the Riverbend post-acute rehabilitation facility near 78th and Freeman in Kansas City, Kansas, according to figures from the Unified Government Health Department.
The death toll there is now 19 persons, according to UG figures. In all 92 residents have tested positive, 24 staff members tested positive and 10 residents were reported in the hospital on Thursday.
During the 5 p.m. UG Board of Health meeting, UG Health Department officials said Riverbend is the biggest COVID-19 outbreak in the state of Kansas.
“I am saddened to see so many people impacted by COVID-19, and to have lost more of our community members to this disease,” Dr. Allen Greiner, Wyandotte County chief medical officer, wrote in a letter to residents.
“Ever since we were first notified of confirmed cases at Riverbend, our staff have been in constant communication with Riverbend leadership to investigate and provide guidance. Our disease investigators have worked diligently to identify who may have been exposed and better understand how the disease spread within the facility. Our staff has provided supplies as well as guidance on staffing and operations to help them protect and take care of their residents and staff,” Dr. Greiner wrote in the letter.
Commissioner Mike Kane, whose district includes Riverbend, said at tonight’s meeting that residents of the area around the nursing home have been calling him with many questions about what’s going on and whether it is safe to go outside their homes.
Commissioner Kane said the UG needs to do a better job of informing people about what is happening and the steps they are taking, especially for people who don’t have access to a computer. The Health Department responded that they have taken many steps, including distributing fliers, doing interviews with the media, making videos and public service announcements, maintaining a COVID-19 website, posting updates to Facebook, and they will be sending out the UG’s print newsletter with more information early next week.
Dr. Greiner said in the letter that “the highest risk connected to the Riverbend cluster is for anyone who has spent time inside the facility, in close contact with residents who are infected.
“People in the surrounding neighborhoods who have not been inside the building or in close contact (within 6 feet for a total of 10 minutes) with someone who has COVID-19 are not likely to be at higher risk than anyone else living in Wyandotte County,” Dr. Greiner stated in the letter.
Dr. Greiner encouraged people to continue practicing good hygiene, wash their hands, cover their coughs and sneezes, stay home when sick, practice social distancing and stay home as much as possible, only leaving home for essential activities such as getting groceries.
The Health Department Riverbend report detailed what is known about the outbreak of COVID-19 cases there.
A timeline starts March 24-27 when a Riverbend staff member’s symptoms began, then the staff member reported to work with a cough and fever and was admitted to working without appropriate personal protective equipment, such as a mask, according to the report.
The Health Department thinks it was possible that many patients were exposed from March 27 to March 28, however, an investigation is still underway to determine if it was the initial exposure or if there was prior exposure at the facility, according to the report.
When the Riverbend staff member went to an emergency room on March 29, the worker was tested, according to the report. The test results came back positive March 30, with the Health Department receiving notification. Riverbend had not been notified at the time. The Health Department tried to contact the patient and was unable to reach the person, and didn’t have information on where the patient worked, according to the report.
The Health Department provided some eye protection and face shields after being contacted by Riverbend on March 31 for protective equipment.
On April 1, the UG Health Department was first notified about positive cases at Riverbend. Riverbend reached out to the UG Health Department. The Health Department was able to reach the patient on April 3.
Testing was expanded at the Riverbend facility, and the state KDHE also became involved. The Health Department worked with the nursing home and reviewed safety practices, and also consulted with KDHE. The facility also reported staffing shortages on April 8.
According to the report, the facility took action to separate well residents from sick residents, either keeping residents in their rooms, or moving the positive COVID-19 patients into one wing of the facility. Residents who tested negative could quarantine with their family.
Employees were screened, and their temperatures were taken. Any Riverbend employee with symptoms had a COVID-19 test, according to the Health Department. The Health Department also helped the facility find more staff after a shortage of staff developed.
The facility also closed its communal dining facility and its physical therapy gym, according to the report. Some patients were admitted to hospitals after they developed respiratory symptoms. More details about the Health Department’s response are listed in the report.
Some persons who test positive for COVID-19 have no symptoms at all, others are only mildly sick, some get severely ill and others do not have symptoms for a few days before getting sick, so it is not certain if the staff member who was sick on March 27 was the initial exposure at the Riverbend facility.
Sixty-three Kansas counties reported positive COVID-19 cases on Thursday. The state reported an increase of 94 cases from Wednesday, and an increase of four deaths, for a total of 80 deaths. (KDHE map)
Kansas officials described a number of measures being taken to fix the Kansas Department of Labor’s website and phone capabilities, as they have been swamped with unemployment benefit applications in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gov. Laura Kelly and Labor Secretary Delia Garcia appeared at a news conference on Thursday to talk about the situation, which has left some unemployed residents without funds.
Today the state reported 1,588 positive COVID-19 cases in the state, up 94 cases from Wednesday. There were 80 deaths in the state, up four from Wednesday.
Three new deaths were in Wyandotte County, according to the UG’s COVID-19 website at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, bringing the Wyandotte County total to 34 deaths. Wyandotte County had 378 cases at 1:30 p.m.
Sixty-three Kansas counties are reporting positive COVID-19 cases. On Thursday, Johnson County reported 343; Leavenworth County, 114; Sedgwick County (Wichita area), 217; and Shawnee County (Topeka area), 82.
Gov. Kelly said discussions are underway at the state level on how to reopen the economy safely and swiftly.
Governors throughout the nation have resisted political pressure to reopen their states too early, because they are committed to making data-driven decisions allowing science and medical professionals to determine the best and safest timing, not politics, Gov. Kelly said.
Gov. Kelly said today that robust testing and contact tracing capacity is the key to getting people back to work.
While she shares the worry of people about an extended shutdown, the reality is they do not have the supplies they need to reopen, nor have they reached the apex of the outbreak, she said.
She said she was hopeful that discussions with the federal government will shed more light on their plan to get the states the testing supplies they need to move forward promptly.
Kansas Labor Secretary Delia Garcia today announced that Kansas would go to a system where persons will file applications on certain days based on the first letter of their last name. For example, last names started with A-M will file on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, while last names beginning N-Z will file on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Saturday is for those who missed their filing day. This new information is on the department website and also on its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/KansasDOL/.
The COVID-19 pandemic placed an overwhelming strain on the Kansas Department of Labor, with the department handling a historic volume of claims, according to the governor. The department received 1.6 million calls in a single day last Monday, according to the governor. More than 160,000 Kansas residents have filed for unemployment, the governor said.
“The system has been overloaded, and delays have created frustration and anxiety,” Gov. Kelly said.
The top priority is to address the problem, so that residents who have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic can put food on their table, she said. Additional employees have been added and some have transferred to help the Department of Labor.
The state is doing everything it can to boost the capacity of the system so it works faster, and they are making progress, she said.
An upgrade that took place from 2003 to 2011 increased functionality in many areas, but did not address core problems in the mainframe that was put into place in the 1970s, she said. The modernization was never completed, but was halted in early 2011, she said. The transition from the mainframe computer never occurred, she said.
Garcia spent last year trying to get the a path forward for the information technology structure, she said.
She said the teachable moment for all elected officials was that years of budget cuts coupled with political demands to reduce the size of government have now created tangible consequences at the Department of Labor.
“Government funded infrastructure is complex and it is expensive,” Gov. Kelly said. “We must do a better job of prioritizing these investments before disaster strikes,” she said, and factoring potential consequences of inaction into the legislative process.
She said she hoped this crisis will shed light on why key investments in infrastructure must be taken seriously.
