Month: May 2020

Vaccine development appears promising

Three more COVID-19 deaths were reported in Wyandotte County between 1:30 p.m. Thursday and 11:55 a.m. Friday, according to the UG’s COVID-19 website. (From UG COVID-19 website)

Recent news of a vaccine development gives reason for encouragement, according to U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas.

Sen. Moran said during a University of Kansas Health System news conference Friday morning that the news from the National Institutes of Health is that there are efforts to quickly develop and test a vaccine for COVID-19.

Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer at the KU Health System, said the news of a possible vaccine by October brought him to tears. Two vaccines might be available according to the NIH.

He said trials enrolls in July, and they are putting some of the stages of the testing together to have results out by September, then ready to start distributing dosages of vaccines in October. They’ve already been through animal testing.

“That is a remarkable timeline and a lot faster than what we originally heard,” he said.

They’ve already started on production of some of them, he said, and if they are effective and approved, will be ready to send them out in October. There could be 10 million doses available in October, 100 million to 300 million doses by the first of the year, he said. He hopes it will be true, he added.

Sen. Moran said there are millions of dollars going into the research and development of a vaccine.

KU Health System had 18 COVID-19 patients on Friday morning, as compared to numbers in the 30s last week and in the 20s earlier this week, according to Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director, infection prevention and control, KU Health System.

“Hospitals are one of the safest places to be,” Dr. Stites said. “”We have never been safer.”

Dr. Hawkinson said patients need to follow up with chronic conditions at the clinics, to keep healthy.

Also, the doctors said it is still important for people to continue good hygiene practices such as social distancing, washing hands, not touching their face, coughing into their elbows and staying home when sick.

Three new deaths reported in Wyandotte County

Three new COVID-19 deaths were reported in Wyandotte County between 1:30 p.m. May 14 and 11:55 a.m. May 15, according to the Unified Government’s COVID-19 webpage. There are now a total of 69 deaths.

Wyandotte County reported 1,124 positive COVID-19 cases at 11:55 a.m. Friday, an increase of 11 cases since 1:30 p.m. May 14, according to the UG’s COVID-19 webpage.

Reported hospitalizations in Wyandotte County decreased from 35 on May 14 to 30 on May 15, a decrease of five, according to the UG report. There were 304 recoveries, according to the website.

Testing continues today


From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, pop-up testing is scheduled at Zotung Christian Church, 5041 State Ave.

Also, testing continues in the afternoons at the Health Department parking lot at 6th and Ann. Testing may be affected by the weather. For more testing sites and information on who may be tested, call 311 or visit https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/pages/what-to-do-if-you-think-you-have-covid-19.


Testing that is not sponsored by the UG Health Department is taking place from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at the Bonner Springs and Piper Walmarts, see https://wyandotteonline.com/walmart-opens-two-covid-19-testing-sites-in-wyandotte-county/.

To view the KU doctors’ news conference, visit
https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital/videos/238483904049065/.

More information about the “red zone” rules is online at the ReStart WyCo hub at https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/pages/restartwyco.

The ReStart WyCo plan is at https://www.wycokck.org/WycoKCK/media/Health-Department/Documents/Communicable%20Disease/COVID19/RestartWYCOGuidanceDocument043020.pdf.

Several Wyandotte County pop-up testing sites are listed at https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/pages/what-to-do-if-you-think-you-have-covid-19.


The UG’s COVID-19 webpage is at https://alpha.wycokck.org/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Information.

The Kansas COVID-19 website is at https://covid.ks.gov/.

The Kansas COVID-19 resource page is at https://govstatus.egov.com/coronavirus.

Information from the CDC is at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/.

Police notes

Threat reported near 50th and State

A victim was threatened by a suspect who had a knife at 4:30 p.m. May 14 in the 5000 block of State Avenue, according to a social media post by the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department.

The suspect was taken into custody, according to police.

Shooting into vehicle reported near 9th and Cleveland

A shooting into an occupied vehicle was reported at 7:19 p.m. May 14 in the 900 block of Cleveland Avenue, according to a social media post by the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department.

A victim was inside a vehicle when the suspect began shooting at the vehicle. There were no injuries, the report stated.

Public swimming canceled this summer in Wyandotte County

The public Parkwood Park swimming pool and three public spray parks in Wyandotte County will be closed this summer.

Emerick Cross, Unified Government assistant county administrator, said at the Thursday, May 14, Unified Government Commission meeting that after consulting with the Wyandotte County chief medical officer, Dr. Allen Greiner, it was decided to close the pool and spray parks for this season.

Cross noted that some other pools and spray parks in the metropolitan area also have been closed. Bonner Springs has closed its aquatic center, he said. The Turner Aquatics Center is closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, also.

A recreational subcommittee met and created guidelines for sports and recreation, Cross said.

With the COVID-19 pandemic and the possibility of a second wave of the virus, he said local officials felt that social distancing would be too difficult at swimming pools, as kids often play water tag and other games that result in a lot of contact with each other.

Two UG commissioners, a representative of the Parks and Recreation Department and Cross met to discuss the issues last Friday, he said.

“I wanted the community to know that this decision was not taken in a vacuum, and that our paramount concern always, every summer, and continues to be the safety of the kids, families and staff,” Commissioner Gayle Townsend said at the May 14 UG meeting. She was one of the commissioners meeting with the group.

She said she looked forward every summer to going to the Parkwood pool, and she often saw a lot of contact among kids. She didn’t believe there was any way they could enforce social distancing or ask the lifeguards to do that.

“With this approach, not one person is going to become ill from this dreadful virus because we elected to open the pool,” Commissioner Townsend said. “I know this is a hardship for a lot of people. We are going to come through this safely.”

Cross said that the UG was trying to get lifeguards to apply for open positions before COVID-19 hit, but no applications had been turned in to that point. It takes four to six weeks to train lifeguards to rescue children, he said, and they usually meet with the Kansas City, Kansas, school district to use their pools to train lifeguards. The schools were closed, and there was nowhere for the lifeguards to train, he added.

Commissioner Townsend said for the past few years, they have been trying to increase the number of kids who become lifeguards. They need about 10 to 14 lifeguards a year, she said.

Timing is also a factor, she said. Last year, she said, the school district opened its fall semester Aug 8, and many of the lifeguards had to go back to school. A lack of lifeguards is a nonstarter for safety reasons, she said.

Comm. Townsend said she would continue to advocate for a pipeline for local lifeguards and providing training for local kids. She said they are looking at this positively going forward, “to increase the number of lifeguards and to outlast this dreadful virus.”