Kansas reported 21,965 cumulative cases on Friday, an increase of 1,032 cases in the state since Wednesday, according to figures from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. There were no new deaths on Friday. Wyandotte County cases increased by 115 cases on Friday, according to the UG’s COVID-19 website. (Graph from KDHE)
Faced with another day of rising hospital admissions, doctors at the University of Kansas Health System Friday warned that overcrowded hospital conditions, such as what is happening in Texas, could happen here.
While Kansas City area hospitals are not at capacity today, they could easily run out of beds if people don’t change their social behavior, said Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer at KU Health System. He spoke at a KU Health System news conference Friday.
Dr. Stites said he was on a conference call on Thursday with six other chief medical officers of Kansas City area hospitals, and the number of COVID-19 patients are rising fairly rapidly at all the hospitals.
“The number of new cases in Kansas City, Wyandotte County and Johnson County are really rising rapidly,” Dr. Stites said. “That’s a concern.”
Kansas is on a national list for rapid growth of COVID-19 cases.
He said they would probably watch the numbers rise, and he would not be surprised if there would eventually be 60 to 70 COVID-19 cases in the hospital.
Dr. Stites also warned that young people do not get a free pass; they can get COVID-19, also.
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control at KU Health System, said the rising number of cases could overwhelm the hospital’s bed capacity and create a shortage of personal protective equipment. Since some of the population now getting ill are younger, there might be shorter hospital stays without so much use of the ventilators, he believes.
“We know how to protect ourselves, physical distancing works, along with hand hygiene,” Dr. Hawkinson said. He noted that society already has a number of rules, such as not being able to go into a store and smoke, because it is a public health issue. The same goes for mask-wearing, he said.
On Friday, they heard from Dr. Sonja Bartolome, chief quality officer at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who trained at KU Health System and now is in Dallas, Texas. She said the number of cases there now is stressing the system. Bars there have been closed because of outbreaks, and the high numbers are starting to level off, she said.
Dr. Bartolome said bars may lead to the spread of COVID-19 as people are together in groups, not wearing masks and not keeping six feet apart.
She urged people to continue to practice social distancing, wear a mask, wash their hands and avoid crowds.
Wyandotte County reported 115 new COVID-19 cases, with the total at 3,432 at 1 p.m. Friday, according to the Unified Government Health Department’s COVID-19 webpage. There was no increase in the numbers of deaths, and the total stayed at 88.
Although Wyandotte County’s numbers shot up over 100 cases Friday, for the first time in many weeks, Wyandotte County no longer had the highest number of cases in Kansas. That designation goes to Johnson County, which on Friday had a total of 3,654 cases, according to the KDHE website.
KU Health System reported 35 COVID-19 patients on Friday morning, an increase of one from Thursday, according to Dr. Hawkinson. Twelve were in the intensive care unit and four were on ventilators, the same as Thursday. On Monday, there were 22 COVID-19 patients in the hospital.
Kansas reported 21,965 cumulative cases on Friday, an increase of 1,032 cases since Wednesday, according to figures from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. There were no new deaths on Friday.
Other counties in Kansas with large numbers of COVID-19 cases included Sedgwick County, 2,790; Ford County, 2,053; Finney County, 1,578; Leavenworth County, 1,274; Shawnee County, 1,146; Seward County, 1,047; Lyon County, 540; Douglas County, 500; Riley County, 360; Crawford County, 332.
A young election worker went through training last weekend at the Wyandotte County Election Office. (Submitted photo)
This year’s elections are getting a boost from young election workers.
With some of the regular election workers unable to be at the polls Aug. 4 because of COVID-19, an effort has been made to recruit high school students and young adults.
Sheyvette Dinkens, a business educator at Wyandotte High School, said she recently brought about 10 students to election worker training.
This past weekend, Dinkens went with students from Wyandotte High School and Sumner Academy to the training session at the Wyandotte County election office. Students who are over 16 may work at the polls. More training sessions are expected to take place.
Students learned about checking voters in, provisional ballots and other topics, she said. Many of the students are bilingual and will be able to help with translations, she added.
The students also learned about the rules for primaries, such as registered Republicans can only vote the Republican ballot, and registered Democrats can only vote the Democratic ballot. In the general election, voters can vote for any candidate.
Some of the students don’t know much about elections, having not voted before, Dinkens added. This is an educational experience for them, she said. They will be under the supervision of an experienced supervising election judge at the polls, she added. The students receive $9.01 per hour for working at the polls.
Dinkens said students at the training were provided with general government education on elections and how they work. She said she believes it’s important for students to support the local community, and the experience will be good for them.
During training, they talked about how many election locations have closed because of COVID-19, and also about how people are using physical spacing at the polling places, she said.
“The election office has taken precautions, they have the spacing and partitions up,” Dinkens said. They also will have markers on the floor showing people where to stand to be safely spaced apart.
Wyandotte County Election Commissioner Bruce Newby said youth have been eligible to work at the elections for some time, and this year the election office has been more aggressively recruiting young election workers.
Since many election workers here are over the age of 72, many of them are dropping out of working at this year’s election because they don’t want to take the risk of getting COVID-19, Newby said. That creates vacancies that the election office has to fill, he added.
The election office here desperately needs election workers and especially younger election workers, he said. It’s not too late to call the election office and ask to be an election worker, he added. If necessary, they will train election workers all the way up to the day before election, he said.
Holding an election this year has been a different experience.
“It’s a challenge,” Newby said. “This year was going to be difficult enough without the COVID-19 thing overlaying everything. We’re doing everything we can.”
They’re trying to keep the election as normal as possible, he said, with the exception that they have pushed voting by mail very hard. All of the voting options will still be available.
There has been some pushback from some people who think others will try to steal the election if it’s a mail-in ballot, but procedures are in place to keep that from happening, Newby said. There are laws in place that make it a felony offense to interfere with elections and change votes, he added.
Mail ballots still available
Wyandotte County, as a lot of other places in Kansas, has been encouraging voters to use mail-in ballots to keep the risk down of people spreading COVID-19. The state has allowed mail ballots for many years.
So far, they’re over 10,000 applications for a mail ballot. This week, the Wyandotte County election office sent out 9,728 ballots, Newby said. They have 600 pending to send out and there will be more when they check the mail on Saturday, he added.
“It’s not too late to apply to vote by mail,” Newby said. The deadline to apply to vote by mail is Tuesday, July 28, one week before Election Day, he said. “Voters still have time if they want to protect themselves,” he said.
He added the best way for voters to protect themselves is to vote by mail.
Newby said as soon as they get an application, they process it and try to get the ballot out the same day or a day or two later. Voters need to plan to get the ballots back to the election office. It might take two to three days in the mail to get there.
If voters return the ballot by mail, it has to be postmarked by Election Day and received by the Friday after Election Day, according to the state law, he said. If the postmark says the day after Election Day, it isn’t counted.
Also, a voter can return the ballot in person to the Election Office or to any polling place on Election Day, during the hours the polls are in operation, he said.
Besides polls being open on Election Day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., there will be early voting dates as usual at three election centers, one at the Election Office at 850 State, one at the Joe Amayo-Argentine Community Center at 2810 Metropolitan Ave., and one at the Eisenhower Recreation Center, 2901 N. 72nd St.
Those who go to the polls in person may have to wait in line and will social distance, he said. At this time, he doesn’t know how long it will take to wait in line, he added.
To mask or not to mask?
The election workers all will be wearing masks provided by the election office, he said. While there is a mandatory mask order in effect in public places from the Wyandotte County Health Department, and while he hopes everyone wears a mask, Newby said he could not enforce it at the polls, and could not make voters wear a mask.
“The Wyandotte County election office and none of the election workers are in the business of enforcing the mask requirement,” Newby said. “Voter eligibility is determined by whether the person is a resident, registered to vote and 18 or over. That’s it. There’s no requirement in the law that says they have to wear a mask.”
Newby said he hopes all the voters comply with the Health Department policy, and protect everyone. But the only ones he can protect and require to wear a mask are his election workers, he added.
On Friday, a news release from Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab stated that a memo has been sent from his office to county election officials advising them not to turn away any individual who is otherwise qualified to vote, for wearing or not wearing a mask. Schwab’s memo cited the Kansas Constitution’s statement that the only three criteria to vote in Kansas were age, citizenship and residence. If the voter is properly registered, state law says the person shall be allowed to cast a vote, according to Schwab’s memo.
Schwab’s news release stated that voter intimidation or voter suppression based on the fact that a voter is or is not wearing a mask will not be tolerated and is subject to litigation.
If election workers want to wear gloves, gloves will be provided for them, Newby said. Hand sanitizer cannot be used because it might interfere with the paper, and the voting machines may not count the votes, he said. Each polling place will have a restroom where workers and voters may wash their hands, he added.
Newby said there will be supplies provided at the polls for voting machines and surfaces to be wiped down between voters. There are special wipes for the voting machines that will not damage them, he added.
Each voter will receive a two-ended pen, he said. On one end, there will be a stylus, and on the other end, a ballpoint. With the stylus they will sign the pad, and with the ink side, they can sign and fill out the ballot. The voters will get to keep the pen, he said, as the election office doesn’t want people to share pens and potentially spread the coronavirus.
Advance voting at three election centers
Wyandotte County will continue to offer advance voting available in person at three election centers.
Election Office, 850 State Ave., Kansas City, Kansas, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 21-24; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 25; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 27 to July 31; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1; 8 a.m. to noon Monday, Aug. 3.
Joe Amayo-Argentine Community Center, 2810 Metropolitan Ave., Kansas City, Kansas, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 25; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 27 to July 31; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1.
Eisenhower Recreation Center, 2901 N. 72nd St., Kansas City, Kansas, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 25; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 27 to July 31; 10 .a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1.
In-person voting on Election Day
Voters may vote at their assigned polling places on Election Day, Aug. 4, and three of those places have changed.
Newby said they have reduced the number of polling places on Election Day by three by consolidating them with other nearby polling places. The three consolidated were the three smallest in the county, he added, with 200 to 300 voters affected. Those voters, if they vote in person, will go a few blocks down the street to their new polling place.
Polling places open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Aug. 4, Election Day, include:
Sporting KC is going back to Disney World tonight to play in the MLS is Back Tournament against the Colorado Rapids.
The soccer match in Florida will be broadcast at 7 p.m. on ESPN2, and also will be on Sports Radio 810 WHB and La Grande 1340 AM.
Played under the Friday night lights, this pivotal Group D encounter pits two teams that began the 2020 campaign with consecutive wins before dropping their MLS is Back Tournament opener on Sunday.
Sporting (2-1-0, 6 points) surrendered a second-half stoppage time lead in a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat to Minnesota United FC, while the Rapids (2-1-0, 6 points) suffered a 2-0 setback at the hands of Real Salt Lake.
The 24 participating clubs in the MLS is Back Tournament have been divided into six groups of four, with the top two finishers in each group and the four best third-place finishers progressing to the Round of 16.
With Minnesota and RSL in early pole position, Sporting and Colorado will view Friday as a golden opportunity to regain ground in Group D. All group stage matches in the competition will also count toward the 2020 regular season standings, meaning a win for either team would be a boost in the Supporters’ Shield race.
Sporting dominated the first hour of action against Minnesota last weekend, taking a first-half lead through forward Khiry Shelton, only to come undone late as the Loons struck in the 92nd and 97th minutes.
A flashbulb moment that contributed to Sunday’s momentum swing was the ejection of goalkeeper Tim Melia in the 74th minute, which forced Sporting to play a man down for the rest of the game. With Melia serving a red card suspension, goalkeeper Richard Sanchez is set to make his first start in a Sporting uniform. The 26-year-old joined the club last November and has nine seasons of professional experience under his belt, including a three-year stint with the Chicago Fire from 2017-2019.
Shelton, who played for Sporting in 2018 before spending 2019 in Germany with SC Paderborn 07, has returned to the club with conviction in 2020. The 27-year-old has scored in back-to-back matches for the first time in his 77-game MLS regular season career and ranks among the league leaders in chances created from open play.
Fellow forward Alan Pulido has been equally as impressive, scoring or assisting in his first three appearances as Sporting’s marquee offseason acquisition from Mexican side Chivas de Guadalajara. Pulido is one of two MLS players with two goals and two assists this season, alongside Columbus Crew SC playmaker and fellow Liga MX import Lucas Zelarayan.
Colorado lost its tournament curtain raiser on Sunday, but not before winning back-to-back games to begin the regular season for the first time since 2012. The Rapids appear to be headed in the right direction under head coach Robin Fraser, who has gone 7-3-0 since taking over on Aug. 25, 2019. Colorado notably scored 58 goals, second-most in club history, during a 2019 campaign that fell just short of a playoff berth despite a dismal 0-9-2 start.
A pair of former Sporting Kansas City forwards were instrumental in Colorado’s offensive uptick last year. Kei Kamara led the side with 14 goals, while Diego Rubio was close behind with 11. The 35-year-old Kamara has recorded five straight MLS seasons of at least 12 goals, while Rubio scored in both appearances against Sporting last season-a 1-1 tie in Colorado followed by a 3-2 Rapids win at Children’s Mercy Park.
Sporting and Colorado have squared off 78 times in all competitions, making the Rapids the most frequent opponent in Kansas City history. Sporting holds a narrow advantage at 31-29-18, including a 25-24-15 mark in the regular season. Vermes’ side went 6-0-5 against Colorado from 2009-2015, but Colorado has gone 7-2-2 in the series since August 2015.
Vermes’ side boasts a clean bill of health heading into Friday, with defender Andreu Fontas and midfielder Felipe Gutierrez the lone players on the club’s injury report. Fontas remains in Kansas City recovering from a quad strain, while Gutierrez-named the club’s most valuable player in 2019-is out for the season after undergoing successful knee surgery last month. On the Colorado sideline, defender and Olathe, Kansas, native Kortne Ford will miss out with a knee ailment.
The MLS is Back Tournament represents the historic and unprecedented return of Major League Soccer after a four-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following 16 straight days of group stage action from July 8-23, the knockout rounds will unfold with the Round of 16 (July 25-28), Quarterfinals (July 30 – Aug. 1), Semifinals (Aug. 5-6) and Final on Aug. 11. The tournament winner will receive a berth in the 2021 Concacaf Champions League and a sizable share of the $1.1 million prize pool.
Sporting KC also announced today the team has added league pool goalkeeper Charlie Lyon to the club’s roster for tonight’s match against the Rapids. Lyon has been in Orlando and has undergone the same testing and medical procedures as other players involved in the competition.
