Between a quarter and half-inch of rain is expected through Friday evening. (National Weather Service graphic)Winds could gust up to 30 mph Thursday. (National Weather Service graphic)
Today’s weather includes a 30 percent chance of showers, with thunderstorms possible after noon, and a high of 66, according to the National Weather Service.
Breezy conditions are expected, as winds may gust up to 30 mph in the late morning and afternoon, the weather service said.
Rain will be possible again after midnight, the weather service said. No severe weather is expected at this time. However, scattered lightning will be possible on Friday.
Frost and freezing may be a concern Saturday morning, with temperatures dipping to 33 on Friday night and early Saturday morning, according to the weather service.
Today, there is a 30 percent chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after noon, the weather service said. The high will be near 66 with a south southeast wind of 13 to 16 mph, gusting to 30 mph. Less than a tenth of an inch of rain is expected.
Tonight, there is an 80 percent chance of showers, followed by more rain and then possibly a thunderstorm after 1 a.m., according to the weather service. The low will be around 39 with a south southeast wind of 11 mph, becoming northwest after midnight. Winds may gust as high as 18 mph. Less than a tenth of an inch of rain is expected.
Friday, there is an 80 percent chance of showers, with temperatures falling to around 39 by 9 a.m., the weather service said. A north northwest wind will be around 14 mph, gusting as high as 23 mph. New precipitation between a quarter and half-inch is possible.
Friday night, there is a 30 percent chance of precipitation, mainly before 1 a.m., according to the weather service. The low will be around 33 with a north wind of 6 to 10 mph. Less than a tenth of an inch of precipitation is expected.
Saturday, it will be partly sunny, with a high near 52 and a north wind of 3 to 6 mph, the weather service said.
Saturday night, it will be mostly cloudy with a low of 39, according to the weather service.
Sunday, it will be partly sunny, with a high near 65, the weather service said.
Sunday night, it will be mostly cloudy, with a low of 55, according to the weather service.
Monday, it will be mostly cloudy, with a high near 73, the weather service said.
Monday night, it will be mostly cloudy, with a low of 59, according to the weather service.
Tuesday, it will be partly sunny, with a high near 78, the weather service said.
Tuesday night, it will be partly cloudy, with a low of 55, according to the weather service.
Wednesday, it will be partly sunny, with a high near 74, the weather service said.
The UG’s COVID-19 page showed that positive cases were over 100 this evening. (UG COVID-19 page)Numbers of COVID-19 cases were rising in Wyandotte County, according to a graph on the UG’s COVID-19 website. (Graph from UG COVID-19 website)A map showed the largest number of COVID-19 cases were in the northern part of Wyandotte County. (Map from UG’s COVID-19 website)
Wyandotte County’s positive COVID-19 cases topped 100 today, according to an evening update on the Unified Government’s COVID-19 page.
There were 101 positive COVID-19 patients in Wyandotte County, as of 4:25 p.m. April 1, with 34 patients hospitalized, according to the report. There have been four COVID-19 related deaths since mid-March in Wyandotte County.
The number of self-reporting responses also increased to 141, with 52 of them as probable cases, according to the UG’s website.
The total of positive cases in Wyandotte County was 75 on Tuesday morning, according to the UG COVID-19 page report.
Broken down by Zip Codes, there were 25 positive cases in 66109; 24 cases in 66104; 19 cases in 66112; 15 cases in 66102; and 5 cases in 66106. Other Zip Code areas of the county were not reported because they had fewer than 5 cases.
Earlier today, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported that statewide cases had increased to 482 cases, an increase of 54 cases from Tuesday morning.
Doctors: Stay home, social distancing works
At an 8 a.m. April 1 video news conference, University of Kansas Health System doctors emphasized the importance of social distancing.
Doctors warned that people who live in small communities should not think that COVID-19 will not go there.
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control at KU Health System, said he thinks the virus eventually will find its way to small towns and rural areas as well as urban areas.
“The virus doesn’t care how much money you make, what your job is, where you live. It gets around to these communities,” he said.
Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer at KU Health System, noted that the coronavirus (COVID-19) already jumped an ocean, and went to Seattle and New York. It has been found in Kansas City, Wichita, Lawrence and Topeka.
“It doesn’t care where you live,” he said. “It’s coming across the country, and to think it’s only a big city virus is only hopeful thinking, not true thinking. That hopeful thinking will get you into trouble.”
Dr. Hawkinson said they are now seeing nurses and health care workers in other areas without enough personal protective equipment. Currently at KU Health System, they have enough now.
“The biggest thing we can do is stay home,” he said, “so that our nurses, our respiratory therapists and our physicians don’t have to deal with the surge like in Indianapolis and Louisiana and New York have had to deal with. And if we do that, we will have plenty of protective equipment.”
Rachel Pepper, chief nursing officer for the KU Health System, said, “Our nurses are truly doing great. We have such a strong and resilient team.
“There are a lot of things right now that feel uncertain or are changing, but what I see nursing doing every day is truly what they do very best,” Pepper said. “Our nurses are focused on their patients, they want to be there to support every single patient and give them the most safe care that they can. They’re working as a team, and they’re constantly sharing thoughts and ideas and concerns that they have with all of our colleagues, so that we can become better together to take care of these patients, and truly improve the health of everyone.
“I think our nurses are feeling that outpouring of support from the community everyday, and they’re so incredibly grateful for that. They’re proud to take care of our patients.
“They would also ask the community to really embrace the power in every single person’s hands by staying home, and socially distancing and washing your hands,” she said. “We truly are all in this together.”
There were 36 COVID-19 inpatients at KU Health System on Wednesday morning, up from 25 previously. There were 11 of the COVID-19 patients on ventilators, according to the hospital, and 14 were in the intensive care unit.
“As we look at that rise,” Dr. Stites said, “that’s kind of a sign that we’re on the ascent, I wouldn’t say the rapid ascent yet.”
Kansas reported 482 positive COVID-19 cases on Wednesday. (KDHE map)A chart from the KDHE showed the number of cases in Kansas counties. (KDHE chart)
Numbers of positive COVID-19 cases continued to climb on Wednesday, with Kansas now at 482 cases and Wyandotte County at 93 cases, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Kansas reported 482 positive COVID-19 cases on Wednesday morning, April 1, as compared to 428 on Tuesday morning, an increase of 54 cases in one day. The state had one more COVID-19 related death, bringing the total to 10 in Kansas.
Wyandotte County now has 93 positive COVID-19 cases, as compared to 75 on Tuesday morning and 89 on Tuesday evening. Wyandotte County has had four COVID-19 related deaths.
Johnson County reported 144 positive cases, an increase of 10 cases since Tuesday morning, and has three total deaths.
As the numbers continue to rise, Gov. Laura Kelly, in a news conference Wednesday, said that the “stay home” order would continue in place past Easter, which is April 12. The order is scheduled to continue through April 23.
“The idea that everybody is going to be congregating for Easter Mass is not realistic,” Gov. Kelly said. The stay-home order will still be in place. She said she is asking houses of worship to respect the limitation of 10 persons on gatherings, and to practice social distancing, which will make it difficult for them to all gather in one place.
Dr. Lee Norman, Kansas secretary of health, said at the news conference that it is important to limit groups to 10 people or less, observing social distancing.
There were 50 people in attendance at a church conference from March 16 to 22 at the Miracle Temple Church of God in Christ at 2106 Quindaro Blvd., in Kansas City, Kansas, where there was a positive COVID-19 case, he said. They are investigating the contacts, and have linked several cases now back to the church gathering, he added.
The conference took place before the stay-at-home order went into effect in Wyandotte County on March 24.
“It demonstrates how, in cases like this, cases just scatter to the wind, and they go to other counties,” Dr. Norman said. “So, other counties are involved in the investigations of the people who gathered for this church event.”
Health officials have asked anyone who attended the conference to get in touch with their doctor, a clinic or the Unified Government Health Department’s self-reporting website.
The Burlington Life Care Center in Burlington, Kansas, now has 14 positive COVID-19 cases, Dr. Norman said. He said there is now one death in a resident associated with COVID-19 there.
Dr. Norman said at the news conference that the number of cases at the end of March were about where he thought they would be, around 400.
He said the state is about 1 percent of the United States, and he believes Kansas will outperform numbers and not have deaths of 1 percent of the population of the state, as some have predicted. He said he thinks the deaths will be under 1,000.
He said he is currently working on projections for cases and deaths in Kansas. It varies widely by methodology used, he said.
The state prison, Lansing Correctional Facility, has reported three positive tests of staff, Gov. Kelly said. They were the first positive cases in the Kansas Department of Corrections, she said. The staff members were a man over 20 years old, and two women over 40 years old, according to KDOC.
Gov. Kelly said inmates in close contact with the positive cases were moved to medical isolation and were being monitored for symptoms. The process is similar to an individual who has been asked to self-isolate.
Dr. Norman said KDHE will manage oversight of the offenders and staff, and not the local health department, which could be overwhelmed if there are too many cases.
Also, Gov. Kelly announced that there is a new adjutant general of Kansas, Maj. Gen. David Weishaar, who succeeds Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli, who is retiring. Weishaar will direct the Kansas Emergency Management Department and coordinate the state’s response to the epidemic. Tafanelli will be staying on temporarily as an adviser.
Dr. Norman said the state is still struggling to get swabs to do testing for COVID-19. These are medical swabs, with no natural materials in them, and they are longer than ordinary swabs.
More testing should go online in Kansas in the next few weeks, he said, and the state needs more swabs to do the testing.
When they have adequate supplies of tests, the state plans to do some population studies, he said. About 78 percent of the positive tests have come from six counties, he said, and population studies are needed to determine how widespread COVID-19 is in the state. That will help health officials determine when it will be possible to go back to a more normal life.
The governor asked residents to “do your best to stay home, stay safe and save lives.”
