Hot and humid weather is possible today, according to the National Weather Service.
The high could reach 91 with a heat index as high as 97, the weather service said.
The holiday weekend also will include hot and humid conditions, according to the weather service.
Some isolated to scattered rain is possible tonight, the weather service said.
Today, it will be partly sunny, with a high near 91 and a heat index as high as 97, the weather service said. An east northeast wind will be around 6 mph.
Tonight, there will be a 20 percent chance of showers after 4 a.m., with a low of 73, according to the weather service.
Friday, there is a 20 percent chance of showers, with a high near 89, the weather service said. The heat index could be as high as 95. An east northeast wind of 5 to 9 mph is possible.
Friday night, the low will be around 71 with an east northeast wind of 5 to 9 mph becoming calm in the evening, according to the weather service.
On Saturday, Independence Day, there is a 20 percent chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 1 p.m., the weather service said. The high will be near 89 with a calm wind.
Saturday night, it will be partly cloudy, with a low of 71, according to the weather service.
Sunday, it will be mostly sunny, with a high near 90, the weather service said.
Sunday night, it will be mostly clear, with a low of 72, according to the weather service.
Monday, it will be mostly sunny, with a high near 90, the weather service said.
Monday night, it will be mostly clear, with a low of 73, according to the weather service.
Tuesday, it will be sunny, with a high near 93, the weather service said.
Tuesday night, it will be mostly clear, with a low of 74, according to the weather service.
Wednesday, it will be sunny, with a high near 94, the weather service said.
COVID-19 cases in Kansas have recently increased. This graph shows new cases by day in blue and total cumulative cases in yellow. (KDHE graph)
Kansas Health Secretary Lee Norman said on Wednesday afternoon that decisions that have been made – particularly by the state Legislature – have contributed to the upswing of positive COVID-19 cases in Kansas.
Dr. Norman, at a news conference, showed a chart of case numbers rising in Kansas and said that the increases are not random, but are predictable.
In the past 10 days, there have been 2,500 additional cases in Kansas, he said. As the state approaches the Fourth of July holiday, he is concerned about cases increasing more.
Kansas reduced the disease spread on March 16, when schools closed, and on March 30, when a stay-at-home order was put in place, he said.
Twenty-two days later, two incubation periods, the state reached its peak at the end of April, he said.
On May 4, the state entered the first phase of the reopening plan.
Then a phase 1.5 was begun, with a continued good decrease, he said.
“This is where things started going sideways,” Dr. Norman said.
On May 27, a bill was passed in the state Legislature resulting in the state opening plan becoming guidance and not a mandated plan, he said.
Ideally, Dr. Norman said he would have liked to see the numbers gradually taper off until July 1, to have time to build up supplies of personal protective equipment for the expected autumn and winter onslaught of cases.
Instead, by the state plan becoming guidance, many counties opened up and returned to business as usual, he said. Particularly, mass gatherings opened up, he said.
Kansas is still in Phase 3, which allows no more than 45 people, but it is merely guidance at this point, Dr. Norman said.
On Memorial Day, around May 31, they saw mass gatherings throughout the state, he said.
As counties were free to make their own decisions, some were adhered to the Ad Astra plan while others had their own plans, some of which were more stringent, and others did not adopt any plan.
Wyandotte County has its own health orders in place that have mandated Phase 3 of the Ad Astra plan here.
On June 4, a special session of the Legislature passed a bill, HB 2016, that included impedimenets to doing contact tracing, he said.
The legislators were concerned about privacy, but the Kansas Department of Health and Environment had no plans for electronic tracing, he said. Dr. Norman said the bill changed the way they can contact people. The bill includes provisions about third parties that would interfere with contact tracing, according to Dr. Norman.
Dr. Norman predicted that the trend line of cases will steepen, and that it would be more difficult to do contact tracing.
The KDHE’s mobile testing van went out for the first time and visited Wyandotte County on Saturday, and tested about 250 people at the Mercy and Truth Clinic.
Of those, about 13 percent tested positive for the virus, Dr. Norman said.
He said the state has about 4,033 cases that are related to active clusters, or outbreaks, in the state. It shows the virus is not gone, nor does it plan to take a break over the holiday weekend,he said.
Monday, the KDHE visited the state hospital, where it tested 250 people, with results yet to be determined, he said.
He said the essential approaches of winning the battle with COVID-19 are antiviral medications and vaccine, and they don’t have either one yet.
Lacking those, they are trying to stop the spread of the disease through adequate testing capacity, rapid case investigation, aggressive contact tracing, and isolation and quarantinehe said.
Since there isn’t yet a cure, the solution is prevention, mask wearing, good hygiene and social distancing, he said.
Three-fourths of the time, when there are clusters of cases, someone comes to work or goes to a party or a funeral, when they are ill, he said. “So stay home when you’re ill,” he added.
He asked everyone to remain vigilant over the Fourth of July holiday.
Outbreaks
There were 221 clusters or outbreaks in Kansas, with 108 still active, according to the KDHE. They accounted for 6,484 cases and 205 deaths.
Dr. Norman said a new cluster area today is sports, which has reported four clusters in Kansas, with 29 total cases.
Statewide outbreaks, or clusters of cases, were reported by the KDHE in these areas on Wednesday:
Wyandotte County now has posted an application for nonprofits, government agencies, school districts and businesses in Wyandotte County that want to apply for CARES Act funding. The web address is https://us.openforms.com/Form/6273fe80-8bba-4c18-b4e7-e551096d8a83.
Wyandotte County reported 2,312 cumulative total cases at 1 p.m. Wednesday, and cumulative 83 deaths. It was an increase of 80 cases since Tuesday and one more death. (From UG COVID-19 webpage)
Dr. Lee Norman, Kansas secretary of health, said he hopes Kansas residents don’t look for ways to skirt a new mask order from Gov. Laura Kelly, but will comply with it.
The order is scheduled to go into effect on Friday, July 3.
Dr. Norman and doctors at the University of Kansas Health System news conference Wednesday morning discussed the new order.
Kansas has had hundreds of new COVID-19 cases this week, and currently has about 2,000 new cases every week.
The state reported a cumulative total of 14,990 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday morning, an increase of 547 cases since Monday. There were two additional deaths, for a cumulative total of 272.
Wyandotte County reported 2,312 cumulative total cases at 1 p.m. Wednesday, and cumulative 83 deaths. It was an increase of 80 cases since Tuesday and one more death.
The University of Kansas Health System reported 16 COVID-19 patients in the hospital on Wednesday morning, with three on ventilators. There was one less COVID-19 patient in the hospital since Tuesday, and one more patient on a ventilator. There had been some admissions and some discharges.
Discussing the new state mask order, Dr. Norman said enforcement of the state’s order is planned locally, with local municipalities and counties.
“Ideally people will comply with this willingly,” Dr. Norman said. “I think it’ll be a real struggle, honestly.”
With the legislature limiting the governor’s authority recently, the order will have to be approved by the State Finance Council, a group of legislative leaders meeting on Thursday.
He said they will have to wait until Thursday to see what the details of the governor’s executive order on masks will look like.
In the meantime, some parts of Kansas, including Wyandotte County, are already under a local mask order. The order here went into effect at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Residents are required to wear masks in public places. They also are required to continue social distancing and other measures such as washing their hands.
Johnson County currently doesn’t have a local mask ordinance, but the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners is scheduled to vote on whether to have a mask ordinance on Thursday, according to Dr. Joseph Lemaster, Johnson County health officer.
He said he supports mask-wearing and the Johnson County Health Department has been urging its residents to wear masks all along. Wearing masks of any sort, including homemade, will dramatically reduce the risk of COVID-19 in the population, he said.
There currently are petitions online urging Johnson County to adopt a mask ordinance.
Tracey Osborn Oltjen, president of the Overland Park Chamber of Commerce, said at the news conference that about 70 percent of the businesses there already require masks to be worn.
Dr. Norman said it is frustrating to public health leaders when residents don’t take the advice seriously to wear masks. Part of the problem has been inconsistent messaging, he said. Early, health officials were trying to preserve masks for first-responders and front-line workers and so did not advocate for masks.
Some people now are attacking the idea of wearing masks, when in reality what they are saying is the magnitude of the response is in excess to the risk to them, he said. There is a feeling on the part of some Kansas residents, perhaps those without many cases in their counties, that it is not a risk to them.
Dr. Norman said he has pointed out to people that those who work in nursing homes and meatpacking plants where there are outbreaks, then go home, and the disease could spread.
While the COVID-19 numbers of new cases in Kansas now are more among the 20 to 40-year-old groups, and there is less hospitalization, it is community spread, and it won’t remain in that age group long, he said.
“We cannot let our guard down,” he said.
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection control at the University of Kansas Health System, said masks act as a barrier, in case people are infected and do not know it. They reduce the spread of the disease to vulnerable and other populations, he said.
At the news conference, a video from Florida Atlantic University was shown that illustrated how droplets spread from a cough.
The droplets can spread six feet or more without any mask. The distance was much reduced with a mask.
A bandana is better than no mask at all. A stitched, pleated cotton mask worked better than a bandana for blocking droplets, Dr. Hawkinson said.
Masks do not reduce your oxygen, and surgeons have been using them for hours at a time, for years, and they are safe, he said. The virus has already been found in mountainous areas as well as in rural areas, he said.
“You are doing this for other people, so you don’t spread it to other people,” Dr. Hawkinson said.
Wyandotte County now has posted an application for nonprofits, government agencies, school districts and businesses in Wyandotte County that want to apply for CARES Act funding. The web address is https://us.openforms.com/Form/6273fe80-8bba-4c18-b4e7-e551096d8a83.
