Rain is possible Thursday night and Friday. (National Weather Service graphic)Winds from the south at 7 to 10 mph are in the forecast for today. (National Weather Service graphic)
Scattered showers could move into the area late Thursday evening, staying for much of Friday, according to the National Weather Service forecast.
Temperatures will gradually warm through the end of the week, the weather service said. They will reach a high of 56 today.
Southerly winds sustained at 7 -10 mph are expected, according to the weather service.
Today, there will be increasing clouds, with a high near 56 and a south wind of 7 to 10 mph, the weather service said.
Tonight, there is a 50 percent chance of rain, mainly after 7 p.m., according to the weather service. The low will be around 45 with a south southeast wind of 10 mph. Less than a tenth of an inch of rain is possible.
Friday, there is a 60 percent chance of rain, followed by more rain and possibly a thunderstorm after 1 p.m., the weather service said. The high will be near 56 with a south wind of 5 to 10 mph. Between a tenth and quarter-inch of rain is possible.
Friday night, there is a 50 percent chance of rain and thunderstorms before 1 a.m., then a slight chance of rain, according to the weather service. The low will be around 46 with a north northeast wind of 5 to 8 mph. Between a tenth and quarter-inch of rain is possible.
Saturday, it will be mostly cloudy, changing to sunny, with a high near 64, the weather service said. A north wind of 9 to 11 mph will gust as high as 23 mph.
Saturday night, it will be mostly clear, with a low of 42, according to the weather service.
Sunday, it will be sunny, with a high near 72, the weather service said.
Sunday night, it will be mostly clear, with a low of 59, according to the weather service.
Monday, it will be sunny, with a high near 82, and breezy, the weather service said.
Monday night, it will be partly cloudy with a low of 63, according to the weather service.
Tuesday, there is a 40 percent chance of rain with a high near 77, the weather service said.
Tuesday night, there is a 50 percent chance of rain and thundertsorms, with a low of 55, according to the weather service.
Wednesday, there is a 30 percent chance of rain, with a high near 66, the weather service said.
COVID-19 vaccinations in Wyandotte County are still lagging behind state and national vaccination rates.
According to information released on Wednesday by the Unified Government Health Department on its vaccine webpage, about 25.6 percent of Wyandotte County residents, or 42,403 people, have received one dose of vaccine. About 17.3 percent, or 28,625, are fully vaccinated, the UG figures stated.
That’s less than the state of Kansas, which recorded 37 percent of residents had received at least one dose of vaccine, according to Kansas Department of Health and Environment statistics. There were 1,078,489 people in Kansas who had received one dose, according to the KDHE. Over 685,000 people have received two doses.
The CDC reported that 40.5 percent of Americans, more than 134 million, have received at least one dose, and 26.4 percent are fully vaccinated. Among those older than 18, there have been 51.5 percent who have received at least one dose. Eighty percent of those age 65 in the United States have received at least one dose, while 65 percent are fully vaccinated, according to CDC.
Some subgroups in Wyandotte County are doing much better at getting vaccinated than others. Dennis Dumovich, director of human resources at the Board of Public Utilities, reported at Wednesday night’s BPU board meeting that the BPU employees are almost 67 percent vaccinated, or about two-thirds of employees. BPU board member Rose Mulvany Henry said that she hopes the vaccination numbers continue to increase and improve.
Vaccine hesitancy has been an obstacle in some underserved communities, according to doctors at the University of Kansas Health System news conference on Wednesday.
Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer at the health system, said he thinks there could be a change in vaccine hesitancy when the FDA gives full approval to the vaccines, as they now have emergency use approval.
At that time, many workplaces may require workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, just as they do with the flu shot, he said. He thinks that may happen around the fall.
KU Health Services has given almost 72,000 vaccinations, with 12,000 currently available, Dr. Stites said. He invited patients to register on MyChart and others to visit at kansashealthsystem.com/vaccine or call 913-588-1227 to make an appointment for a vaccination.
The guest at the Wednesday KU Health System news conference was Dr. Gary Morsch, one of the founders of Heart to Heart International. He has started COVID Care Force to mobilize a group of volunteers to travel to areas in need of assistance because of COVID-19.
He described their efforts with the Navajo Nation, which was facing one of the highest death rates in the country, and how the situation was turned around with masking, stay-home orders and then vaccinations. The Navajo members respected their leaders and their community, and they were doing these measures for the greater good and for the community, he said. Now, they have stopped COVID-19 on their reservation, he said.
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control at the health system, said COVID-19 numbers in the Kansas City area are creeping up and he is concerned about the trend. According to Dr. Hawkinson, there are more cases of young people getting multi-system inflammatory syndrome.
Dr. Hawkinson said although many young people have less severe infections, they can still spread the virus and get significant disease. Vaccinations will be the way out of the pandemic, and he said people who are unsure should seek information they need to make an informed decision.
Walk-in vaccinations available Thursday
Free walk-in vaccinations are available Thursday, April 22, for Wyandotte County residents and workers.Walk-in vaccinations available Thursday
Early morning hours are available Thursday. Wyandotte County residents and those who work in Wyandotte County may walk in for a COVID-19 vaccination from 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday, April 22, at the former Best Buy store at 10500 Parallel Parkway, Kansas City, Kansas.
Also open for walk-in vaccinations from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Thursday, April 22, will be the former Kmart at 7836 State Ave., Kansas City, Kansas.
Vaccinations also will be given from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Thursday, April 22, at the Kansas National Guard Armory, 100 S. 20th St., (near 18th and Ridge), Kansas City, Kansas.
The vaccination sites will have either Moderna or Pfizer vaccines.
Appointments also are being scheduled for the Unified Government Health Department vaccine sites.
The Health Department has expanded vaccine access and starting this week, all Kansas residents can make an appointment to be vaccinated at any of the Health Department’s vaccination facilities on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The vaccination sites on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are open to Kansas residents who are 16 and older who have appointments. They also are open to Wyandotte County residents who can walk in for a vaccine without an appointment.
Kansas residents who wish to schedule an appointment or any Wyandotte County resident may use the Health Department’s self-scheduling tool at WycoVaccines.org and click on a blue button that says, “Click here to schedule an appointment online.” The page is available in Spanish by clicking at the top of the page.
Wyandotte County residents who don’t have an internet connection may call 3-1-1 or 913-573-5311 for assistance in scheduling their vaccination appointment time and date. Walk-ins also are possible for Wyandotte County residents.
People coming in for an appointment may be asked to show they live in Kansas, such as showing a driver’s license, a piece of mail addressed to them, or similar paperwork.
The Health Department also is adding late afternoon and early morning hours this week, and will have these special days for the next three or four weeks.
Early morning hours will be available at the former Best Buy vaccination site from 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday.
Later afternoon hours will be from noon to 5:30 p.m. Wednesdays at the former Kmart location.
The Armory will continue with Saturday hours from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. April 24.
To see more information about Health Department vaccinations, visit WycoVaccines.org.
Other sites available for vaccinations
KU Health System offers vaccinations seven days a week at different locations. Appointments are required. Current patients may use MyChart to make an appointment. Others may call 913-588-1227 or visit kansashealthsystem.com/vaccine to see if vaccines are available.
The University of Kansas Health System also has vaccinations for Wyandotte and Johnson county residents. Any residents of Kansas can call to get an appointment whether they are patients or not at the health system.
There are also pharmacies giving COVID-19 vaccinations in Wyandotte County by appointment, when available. These include Price Chopper and Hen House pharmacy at 76th and State Avenue, and 81st and State Avenue (see https://www.ballsfoodspharmacy.com/), and Medicine Shoppe pharmacy at 65th and Parallel by appointment when available (see https://www.facebook.com/The-Medicine-Shoppe-Kansas-City-281548241870522). CVS pharmacy also has announced that it will offer COVID-19 vaccines at one of its stores in Kansas City, Kansas. Registration is at CVS.com.
Case numbers reported
The University of Kansas Health System reported COVID-19 cases have dropped slightly since Tuesday. There were 10 active COVID-19 patients on Wednesday morning, a decrease of three since Tuesday, according to Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control. Of the 10 patients, six were in the intensive care unit, a decrease of one from Tuesday. Three patients were on a ventilator, the same number as Tuesday. There were another 10 COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized but are out of the acute infection phase, an increase of two from Tuesday. There is a total 20 patients, a decrease of one since Tuesday.
Wyandotte County reported an increase of 14 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, April 21, for a cumulative 18,327 cases, according to the Unified Government Health Department’s COVID-19 webpage. There was a cumulative total of 289 deaths reported, no change.
The Mid-America Regional Council’s COVID-19 dashboard reported 168,860 cumulative COVID-19 cases on Wednesday. The daily average of new hospitalizations was 69. The number of cumulative deaths was 2,373.
The state of Kansas reported 306,883 cumulative COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, April 21, an increase of 593 cases since Monday. There were a total cumulative 4,961 deaths reported statewide. According to KDHE, Johnson County had 57,317 cases, an increase of 181 since Monday; Leavenworth County, 7,145 cases, an increase of four; Sedgwick County (Wichita area), 55,659, an increase of 126; and Shawnee County (Topeka area), 17,275 cases, an increase of 32.
The Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard on Wednesday night reported 31,862,080 cumulative cases in the United States, with 569,401 total deaths reported nationwide.
Case numbers reported
Free COVID-19 testing is available from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday at Vibrant Health, Argentine location, 1428 S. 32nd St., Kansas City, Kansas. The tests are in conjunction with the Wyandotte County Health Equity Task Force. Appointments are not needed.
COVID-19 testing is scheduled beginning at 8 a.m. Thursday, April 22, at Lowe’s, 6920 State Ave., Kansas City, Kansas. The tests are through WellHealth and appointments are required to www.gogettested.com/kansas.
Tests from the Health Department are free for those who live or work in Wyandotte County. They are saliva tests.
The tests are open to asymptomatic people as well as those who have symptoms or have been exposed to COVID-19. Check with the UG Health Department’s Facebook page to see if there have been any changes in the schedule. Bring something that shows that you live or work in Wyandotte County, such as a utility bill.
There’s a disconnect about utility disconnections, activists told the Board of Public Utilities at Wednesday night’s meeting.
BPU customers who are facing electric shutoffs can let the utility know that they have applied for assistance in order to keep their utilities on for 30 days, according to BPU officials. But activists said the system wasn’t working right.
The Kansas Emergency Rental Assistance program, which has funds to prevent evictions and utility disconnections, is available online at https://kshousingcorp.org/emergency-rental-assistance/. The program uses federal coronavirus funding.
According to BPU General Manager Bill Johnson, who answered customers’ questions during the BPU meeting April 21, customers who have applied for KERA funding and whose application is pending should call the BPU customer service department and give them a copy of their KERA application.
Activists spoke up during the public portion of Wednesday night’s BPU meeting.
Ty Gorman, with the Sierra Club, said it was unsafe to shut off electricity for nonpayment during the pandemic. It has resulted in increased deaths and evictions, he said.
Gorman said he has been contacted by people whose power was cut off the past few nights, and who had children. He called it “inhumane.”
Temperatures in Wyandotte County have dropped below freezing in the past few nights. The BPU restarted utility disconnects on April 1.
Also, another issue mentioned Wednesday was the utility’s medical device policy. Gorman said he attended a BPU meeting six months ago to talk about this issue. At that meeting, an Armourdale resident stated that her spouse, a COVID-19 victim, was on medical equipment that required electricity but was not listed under the BPU’s policy that prevented disconnections. The medical device, which helps her husband sleep, needs electricity, but this particular device is not on the BPU’s no disconnect list. The resident said she is afraid he could die without it.
The Armourdale resident returned to the April 21 meeting to talk about her difficulties in finding any utility assistance. She said two people at her home have had COVID-19 and were unable to work. They have long-haul symptoms. After she talked to the board at the Nov. 18 meeting, a board member gave her a connection to a charitable organization, which helped once, but did not work out after that because she didn’t want them to video her home.
Her utility bill was up to $900 a few months ago, and she didn’t think a one-time solution could fix it. It will not help many who are in dire need of assistance and can’t afford the “ludicrous bills,” she said.
The Armourdale resident said she had attempted to apply for the KERA program March 15 and was waiting. She said the site had issues and it did not put her application through. She has been dealing with different people in the KERA program, she said.
There was a glitch in the KERA application system and she could not complete the application, so she didn’t have a completed application to show the BPU, she said. She had no proof of it and would still be in danger of disconnection, she said. She also said later that she wanted to talk to the board more about the situation but that she was not recognized to speak again.
Recently, the resident received her third recorded message, that her electricity would be shut off on April 26, she said.
Johnson said the BPU’s customer service department would call her.
Later in the meeting he said the BPU is not shutting off utilities to people who call the customer service department and provide a copy of their application for KERA funding. The BPU wants people to make payment arrangements to keep the services on.
Also appearing in support of the resident and Gorman was Emily Wolfe, a Kansas City, Kansas, resident. She asked the board to consider what also happens when the utilities are shut off.
“We’re sending ambulances to their homes,” Wolfe said. Some of the people whose utilities are cut off, who relied on electric medical equipment, will be going to the emergency room. Others will be unable to work. She asked the board to look at not just the cost of turning electricity back on, but also the cost it has on the city.
Dustin Hare, an activist with Rent Zero Kansas, said he has been working with the Armourdale resident and a couple other residents who are still being shut off.
There seems to be some disconnect there, Hare said. There seems to be a problem with communications, he said, as some customers who had applied for KERA funding had their electricity cut off. Hare said he also works with nonprofits and they have not been helping these customers, either.
Johnson asked them to follow up with the BPU customer service department. He also said he would follow up with the customer service department about it.
Lori Austin, BPU’s chief financial officer, said KERA was trying to work to assist some customers, and she connected a KERA representative with BPU’s customer service department. KERA was providing BPU a notification of an application.
Johnson said BPU customers who apply for KERA funding need to contact the BPU to let them know that they made an application to the state, and give them a copy of it. He said they don’t receive a lot of feedback directly from the state.
Board member Rose Mulvany Henry said it is important to get information about assistance programs out as quickly as they can, as some people are struggling.
The BPU board also went into a scheduled closed session to evaluate Bill Johnson’s review.
