Major League Soccer announced today that Sporting Kansas City’s regular season home match against Minnesota United FC on Sunday, Nov. 1, at Children’s Mercy Park has been canceled.
The cancellation follows confirmed positive COVID-19 tests to two Minnesota United FC players this week. Due to the limited number of match dates available prior to Decision Day on Nov. 8, the match will not be rescheduled, according to the announcement.
Sporting Kansas City season ticket members who used credit for tickets to Sunday’s match will have that credit refunded into their accounts for future use. Additionally, all single-game buyers who purchased tickets to the game via SeatGeek will be refunded in full.
As confirmed earlier this week, multiple clubs will finish the season without playing the full 23 scheduled matches due to disruptions from COVID-19. As such, qualification for the MLS Cup Playoffs will be determined by points earned on a per match basis, or points per game.
Sporting Kansas City has clinched a berth in the MLS Cup Playoffs and currently occupies second place in the Western Conference with 1.8 points per game. The top four finishers in the West will have homefield advantage in the first round of the Audi 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs, which will unfold in a single-elimination, bracket-style format through MLS Cup on Dec. 12.
Sporting Kansas City will conclude its regular season campaign next Sunday, Nov. 8, visiting rivals Real Salt Lake in a 5:30 p.m. kickoff at Rio Tinto Stadium. More information about playoff dates and tickets for potential playoff matches at Children’s Mercy Park will be released in the near term.
A male was found lying on the ground with a significant head injury in the early morning hours of Saturday, Oct. 31, near 47th and State Avenue.
Kansas City, Kansas, police officers responded to the disturbance call at 2:03 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, according to a spokesman.
Officers found the victim at 47th and State, and believed he had been shot in the head. He was taken to a hospital where he was in critical but stable condition, police said. He was treated for blunt force trauma to the head.
Seeing two persons running from the crime scene and getting into a vehicle, one of the officers followed the vehicle on foot down North 47th Terrace, a dead-end street, according to the spokesman.
As the officer waited for backup officers, the driver turned the vehicle around and drove back toward the officer, the spokesman said. The officer tried to move out of the vehicle’s path, as the driver of the vehicle accelerated toward him, the spokesman said. Then the officer, fearing for his life, discharged his weapon at the driver, according to the spokesman.
Then police chased the suspect vehicle, until the suspects struck a pickup truck near 62nd and State and the suspect vehicle became disabled, according to the spokesman.
The driver of the fleeing suspect vehicle fled on foot, and a passenger in the vehicle was taken into custody at the scene, police said.
Neither the suspect driver nor the passenger sustained any injuries from the initial encounter with officers, the spokesman said. No persons involved in the accident had injuries, the spokesman said.
The incident is under investigation by the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department’s Major Case Unit. Anyone with information is asked to call the TIPS hotline at 816-474-TIPS, police said.
Wyandotte County reported an additional 76 COVID-19 cases on Friday, for a cumulative total of 8,316, according to the UG Health Department COVID-19 webpage. There were no additional deaths, for a cumulative total of 165. (From the UG COVID-19 webpage)
The Unified Government Health Department started offering saliva COVID-19 testing on Friday at the new testing facility at 7836 State Ave., Kansas City, Kansas.
The new test method will replace the previous type of test used, a nasopharyngeal swab, or swabbing at the back of the nose and throat.
“We are excited to have this new testing method available at the testing site at 78th and State Avenue,” said Juliann Van Liew, director of the Unified Government Health Department. “We feel people will find this to be a more comfortable, less intimidating way to get tested for COVID-19, and this will encourage even more Wyandotte County residents to come get tested for the virus.”
How saliva testing works
In this new testing method, the swab is held under the tongue for 60 seconds to collect the sample. There are other guidelines to know about before you come to get tested, according to Van Liew. These include: • Do not eat or drink for 15 minutes before arriving to get tested • Do not smoke for at least 30 minutes before getting tested
“It’s very important to follow these guidelines before you come to get tested, otherwise, your sample won’t give an accurate result,” Van Liew said.
The turnaround time for results of the saliva test is the same as for the previous nasopharyngeal test – approximately 48 hours from the time of testing to getting results. Both the saliva and nasopharyngeal test conducted by the UGPHD are what is known as polymerase chain reaction (or PCR) tests. PCR tests detect the molecular makeup of the virus.
Saliva testing coming to Wyandotte County schools
Saliva-based testing will soon be coming to Wyandotte County schools as well, according to Van Liew.
“We’ve been working in very close partnership with school leaders and nurses to establish COVID-19 saliva testing in schools,” Van Liew said. “This means that students who are showing symptoms of COVID-19 can be tested right away, in their school, versus being sent to another testing facility and potentially exposing more people to the virus. This new capability wouldn’t have been possible without the support and partnership of school leaders and nurses throughout Wyandotte County. It’s a big step forward in identifying positive COVID-19 cases in schools, which allows us to take the steps needed to isolate those students and protect the health and wellbeing of other students, teachers and school staff.”
Testing supplies were delivered to schools Friday. The UGPHD chief epidemiologist, Elizabeth Groenweghe, will be doing training with school nurses early next week, making saliva testing for students available by midweek. The school-based testing will only be available for students who develop symptoms of COVID-19, allowing the testing to be done at the school versus sending the student to another testing site. Couriers will collect testing samples from schools throughout the county each day and deliver them to the lab for analysis.
The next step forward will be to make a combination flu – COVID-19 saliva test available. The UGPHD is working with Sinochips, a diagnostic laboratory which operates on the University of Kansas Medical Center campus, to provide a saliva test that combines three tests in one – simultaneously testing patients for COVID-19, influenza A and influenza B. These combination tests are expected to be available by late November.
For more information about COVID-19 in Wyandotte County visit wycokck.org/COVID-19 or call 3-1-1.
Wyandotte County reported an additional 76 COVID-19 cases on Friday, for a cumulative total of 8,316, according to the UG Health Department COVID-19 webpage. There were no additional deaths, for a cumulative total of 165.
Kansas reported 3,136 additional COVID-19 cases from Wednesday to Friday, for a cumulative total of 85,181, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment COVID-19 website. There were an additional 22 deaths, for a cumulative total of 1,029.
The University of Kansas Health System reported 37 active COVID-19 patients hospitalized on Friday morning, down from 40 on Thursday morning, with 14 patients in the intensive care unit, down from 18 on Thursday, and five on ventilators, down from six on Thursday, according to Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control. There were 31 more COVID-19 patients who were no longer in the acute infection phase but were still in the hospital. HaysMed at Hays, Kansas, reported 19 total COVID-19 patients, compared to 21 on Thursday, and one of the patients in the recovery phase.
At the KU doctors’ news conference on Friday morning, doctors discussed if the curve could be bent and brought down if children return to school and bars remain open.
Dr. Hawkinson said school and bars were two distinct things. Research shows that if outbreaks happen in schools, they are pretty isolated, he said. If children get COVID-19, it’s usually somewhere other than the school.
When people get together in bars and restaurants with friends and family, they are more at risk, he said.
Mitigation strategies such as wearing masks work, and when children are in school, they are wearing masks and distancing. But when people go to restaurants and bars, they are often not wearing masks because they are eating and drinking. He said this is a behavioral issue.
Amanda Gartner, director of quality and safety at the health system, said the ability to control the spread of the virus depends on the bar layout, in some cases. Some are not adequately spaced, and are extremely high-risk especially when people are eating or drinking, she said. There is not as much control over the environment as a school, she added.
On another question, the doctors said that they thought it was safe to vote in person at the polls, if people wear masks. Dr. Stites said he felt that his polling place in Missouri was very good, with cleaning and spacing, and Dr. Hawkinson thought his polling place in Kansas was safe, and masking was good.
Gartner thought the polling places were extremely safe.
Dr. Stites said if you see a line at the polls where no one is wearing a mask, try to wait until you can get in the line where people in front of you and in back of you are wearing masks.
Gartner said if you think it’s too risky, take a step back, wait for people to leave, and then go ahead.
The polls in Kansas offer options such as mail-in ballots and early voting, in addition to Election Day voting. There will be advance voting on Saturday at three voting centers in Wyandotte County, listed at https://wyandotteonline.com/category/election-2020/.
Free flu shots available on Saturday
Two hundred free flu shots are being given away during the Warm Up Wyandotte event from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 31, at Mercy and Truth Clinic, 721 N. 31st St., Kansas City, Kansas. This event, which also includes 200 free turkey sand 200 hoodies, is first-come, first-served, and participants will stay in their cars.
