Month: October 2020

Faith news

Wyandotte County is in Phase 3 under Kansas Ad Astra reopening plan. Local health officials said under Phase 3, people should keep a distance of 6 feet between themselves and others. They may sit closer to people who live in their households. Also, people should wear masks and should wash hands or use hand sanitizer. There is a mask order in effect in Wyandotte County, requiring masks to be worn inside any public space.

Some faith groups will continue holding online or video services. In Wyandotte County, those who are older than 60 or who have other medical conditions should continue being very cautious, according to the Wyandotte County health officials. Those who are sick should stay home, according to officials.

More details about Wyandotte County health guidelines for churches are at https://www.wycokck.org/WycoKCK/media/Health-Department/Documents/Communicable%20Disease/COVID19/COVID-19GuidelinesForChurches.pdf.

Residents are advised to visit the social media page of their church or faith organization, or to call them or email them, to see changes that have been made to regular schedules, or if there are video services planned on Sunday.

The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas has information about churches reopening, Masses, and reflections, at https://www.facebook.com/archkck.

Blessed Sacrament, Christ the King and Our Lady and St. Rose Catholic churches have resumed in-person Masses. For more information, visit the churches’ websites or Facebook pages at https://www.facebook.com/Christ-the-King-Parish-KCKS-1392808997677579, https://www.facebook.com/BlessedSacramentkck and https://www.facebook.com/ourladyandsaintrose/. Mass is online at https://www.facebook.com/BlessedSacramentkck.

Bonner Springs United Methodist Church, 425 W. Morse Ave., Bonner Springs, will hold a Community Blood Center blood drive from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14, in the Fellowship Hall. Donors may make online appointments at esavealifenow.org or call 816-753-4040.

Casa – Worship House Christian Church, 5217 Leavenworth Road, Kansas City, Kansas, is returning to all in-person services, including a bilingual service at 11 a.m. Sundays; Spanish service at 7 p.m. Wednesdays; and youth group in English at 7 p.m. Wednesdays. The Community Thrift Store is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday. Masks are required and hand sanitizer is provided. Social distancing is advised. For more information, visit Facebook @casadealabanzaKCKS.

Open Door Baptist Church, 3033 N. 103rd Terrace, Kansas City, Kansas, will have services in person with social distancing at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 11. There will be a livestream service at https://www.facebook.com/opendoorkc/ and https://www.opendoorkc.com/.

Stony Point Christian Church, 149 S. 78th St., Kansas City, Kansas, plans to livestream at 10:15 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 11, on its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/StonyPointChristianChurch, and people are welcome to attend the service in person, using social distancing and other health measures.

St. Patrick Catholic Church, Kansas City, Kansas, has a Mass online for Sunday, Oct. 11, at https://www.facebook.com/StPatrickKCK. St. Patrick Church also has returned to in-person Masses.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Kansas City, Kansas, is planning livestream services on Facebook on Sunday, Oct. 11. See stpaulskck.org and https://www.facebook.com/StPaulsKCK/.

Sunset Hills Christian Church, 6347 Leavenworth Road, Kansas City, Kansas, plans to livestream at 9:30 a.m. each Sunday on the Facebook page of Pastor Mike Barnett, https://www.facebook.com/mike.barnett.528. Services are also provided through checkout of DVD or SD Card and can be sent by email upon request. People are welcome to attend the service in person using social distancing and other health measures. Masks are available or bring your own to wear.

Wyandotte United Methodist Church, 7901 Oakland Ave., will have a livestreamed service Sunday, Oct. 11, on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Wyandotteumc/ or online on the website at www.wyandotteumc.com.

Information about other church services in Wyandotte County may be available from the church’s social media page.
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Bishop Ward to shift to remote learning for 14 days because of COVID-19

Wyandotte County reported an additional 23 COVID-19 cases on Saturday, for a cumulative total of 7,416, according to the UG COVID-19 webpage. There were no additional deaths reported, for a cumulative total of 134. (From UG COVID-19 webpage)

Bishop Ward High School will change to all-remote learning for 14 days because of three positive COVID-19 student tests, according to Jay Dunlap, Bishop Ward president.

He said the private high school in Kansas City, Kansas, has been in hybrid learning since Sept. 8, just after Labor Day.

Because of positive tests of the three students, there were some faculty members in close enough contact that they needed to quarantine for 14 days, he said.

Because it’s very hard to find substitute teachers these days, everyone will move to total online learning for the next two weeks, he said.

Dunlap said all of the teachers, even though they have been in the classroom, have been sharing their lessons online because they made that option available to the families from the start.

A third of the students have been online-only the entire time this semester, while the other two-thirds alternate days in the classroom with days at home, he added.

Dunlap said the school will make the transition “seamlessly” the next two weeks while the teachers quarantine.

“We’ve set up to make this transition if we had to,” he added.

Bishop Ward had a football game scheduled with Baldwin that was canceled on Thursday evening. Dunlap said it was the day that they had sent students home, and coaches thought the students might be so distracted they wouldn’t be able to play well.

Dunlap said while two of the students who tested positive were on sports teams, there was no indication that the spread happened among the athletes or at a sporting event.

Athletic practices are scheduled to resume on Monday, and they hope to resume play next Friday, he said.

The three students who tested positive are less than one percent of the total student number, he added.

Janell Friesen, a spokesman for the Unified Government Health Department, said the Health Department has been working with the school. The Health Department is available to help schools with guidance and to help school nurses with contact tracing.

UG Health Department graphic

Special testing planned for Oak Grove Elementary School

Oak Grove Elementary School in the Turner school district announced on Thursday that it would return to all-online learning for two weeks, also, because of COVID-19. At Oak Grove, three staff members and four students tested positive for COVID-19, with 100 students exposed.

Friesen said a special COVID-19 testing event will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12, for students, families and staff in the Turner school district. The testing will be at the Oak Grove parking lot at 5340 Oak Grove Road, Kansas City, Kansas.

Other members of the community who live or work in Wyandotte County can get tested at the usual testing site, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday – Friday at the UG Health Department, 619 Ann Ave., Kansas City, Kansas. 

See earlier Oak Grove story at https://wyandotteonline.com/oak-grove-school-to-return-to-online-learning-for-two-weeks-because-of-covid-19-cases/.

There are more than 10 schools listed as having COVID-19 cases, some with student cases and some with staff cases. A map of school COVID-19 cases in Wyandotte County is online at https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/.

Also, Kansas City Kansas Community College has its own webpage showing where COVID-19 cases are at the college, at https://www.kckcc.edu/communications/covid19/covid-19-case-notifications.html.

COVID-19 case numbers

Wyandotte County reported an additional 23 COVID-19 cases on Saturday, for a cumulative total of 7,416, according to the UG COVID-19 webpage. There were no additional deaths reported, for a cumulative total of 134.

The Kansas City Region COVID-19 Resource Hub reported 47,916 total cumulative COVID-19 cases on Saturday in the nine-county Kansas City area. The average daily new deaths in the Kansas City area have increased to 4.1 per day this week as compared to 2.4 per day last week, according to the regional hub. The COVID-19 hospitalization totals in the Kansas City area also are increasing, according to the regional hub.

On Friday, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 65,807 total cumulative cases in Kansas, an increase of 1,855 cases since Wednesday. There were 763 total deaths reported, a statewide increase of 41 since Wednesday.

More information about testing is at https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/pages/what-to-do-if-you-think-you-have-covid-19.

The KDHE’s COVID-19 webpage is at https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/.

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

The KC Region COVID-19 Hub dashboard is at https://marc2.org/covidhub/.

The CDC’s COVID-19 webpage is at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html.

Livestream college play planned tonight

A livestream play will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, and at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 11, by Kansas City Kansas Community College students and the college theatre department.

“Twisted Tales of Poe” by Philip Grecian will be presented in the form of a staged radio drama. There will be sound effects and music.

The play will include excerpts from Poe’s stories, “Tell Tale Heart,” “Cask of Amontillado,” “The Raven” and “The Black Cat.”

The audience will be totally virtual, with the presentation shown on the internet.

Tickets will be $10 for community members, and reduced prices for faculty and staff. KCKCC students are free. For information on tickets, see www.kckcc.edu/communications/twisted-tales-of-poe.html.