Month: May 2021

Free walk-in vaccinations available Tuesday

New hours for vaccine site

Free walk-in COVID-19 vaccinations will be available for everyone 12 and older from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 1, at the former Kmart store, 7836 State Ave., Kansas City, Kansas.


People may also schedule vaccinations at WycoVaccines.org.

The Unified Government Health Department schedule of vaccinations changed recently. To see the schedule and more information about vaccinations, visit WycoVaccines.org or https://www.facebook.com/UGHealthDept.

Those who receive vaccinations are asked to consider bringing an ID to make the process go faster.

The Health Department is doing more mobile vaccinations, and people may request vaccines to be given at different sites in the community by going to WycoVaccines.org and clicking on “mobile vaccine request.” People also may request a ride to vaccination sites on the same page.

Those who wish to schedule an appointment 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. Walk-in appointments also are welcome.

Those 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.


To see more information about Health Department vaccinations and next week’s schedule, visit WycoVaccines.org.

Other sites available for vaccinations

Vaccinations at KU Health System are open to the public. Current patients may use MyChart to make an appointment. Others may call 913-588-1227 or visit kansashealthsystem.com/vaccine to make an appointment to get vaccinated. KU Health System currently is vaccinating residents of Kansas and Missouri who are 12 or older, by appointment only. Those under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian throughout the appointment.

There are also pharmacies giving free COVID-19 vaccinations in Wyandotte County by appointment, when available. These include Price Chopper and Hen House pharmacies, which are now also accepting walk-in vaccinations or appointments, and are starting vaccinations for age 12 and up at those pharmacies that are giving Pfizer vaccine (see https://www.ballsfoodspharmacy.com/).

CVS has announced walk-in appointments for COVID-19 vaccine at some of its stores. Those interested in getting a vaccination at a CVS pharmacy are asked to visit a CVS website in order to make sure there is vaccine available. The website is at www.cvs.com/. Walgreens and Walmart also were listed on www.vaccines.gov as giving vaccinations.

Other pharmacies and sites giving vaccines are listed at www.vaccines.gov. The website also tells whether vaccines are in stock at the locations.

Case numbers reported

Wyandotte County reported an increase of three COVID-19 cases on Friday, May 28, for a cumulative 18,730 cases, according to the Unified Government Health Department’s COVID-19 webpage. There was a cumulative total of 293 deaths reported, no change from Thursday. The numbers were not updated Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

The Mid-America Regional Council’s COVID-19 dashboard reported 174,422 cumulative COVID-19 cases on Friday, an increase of 154 cases since Thursday. The daily average of new hospitalizations was 44.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 313,997 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Kansas on Friday, May 28, an increase of 277 cases since Wednesday, May 26. There were a total cumulative 5,076 deaths reported statewide, an increase of nine. The numbers were not updated since May 28.

Johnson County had a cumulative 59,144 cases on Friday, an increase of 59 since Wednesday, according to the KDHE. Leavenworth County had a cumulative 7,255 cases on Friday, an increase of three since Wednesday. Sedgwick County had a cumulative 57,272 cases on Friday, an increase of 46 since Wednesday.

The Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard on Monday night reported 33,264,380 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United States, with 594,568 total deaths reported nationwide. There were 6,725 new cases nationwide and 124 new deaths nationwide reported on Memorial Day.
States with rising numbers of new cases on Monday were New York, 820; Illinois, 601; California, 514; Colorado, 484; and Pennsylvania, 466.
Countries with rising numbers of new cases were India, 152,734; Brazil, 43,520; Argentina, 21,346; Colombia, 20,218; and U.S., 6,725, according to Johns Hopkins information.

Free testing available Tuesday


For details about free COVID-19 testing offered by the UG Health Department, visit https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/pages/what-to-do-if-you-think-you-have-covid-19, https://www.facebook.com/UGHealthDept or call 3-1-1.

One of the WellHealth sites for free COVID-19 testing is open beginning at 8 a.m. Tuesday, June 1, at Lowe’s at 6920 State Ave., Kansas City, Kansas. Appointments are required. For more information, to see other testing sites and to make an appointment, visit https://www.gogettested.com/kansas.

The Health Department’s general contact page is at https://www.wycokck.org/Health/Contact.aspx. The department’s Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/UGHealthDept.

Testing sites are at https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/pages/what-to-do-if-you-think-you-have-covid-19. There are more test sites listed on this page.

Saliva testing is now offered at the UG Health Department. For more information, visit https://alpha.wycokck.org/files/assets/public/health/documents/covid/02042021-ugphd-saliva-testing-available.pdf.

The University of Kansas Health System COVID-19 update page is at https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital/videos/330310795391910.

A vaccine report for the state of Kansas is at
https://www.kansasvaccine.gov/DocumentCenter/View/123/Vaccine-Historical-Document-22521?bidId=.

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

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

The Wyandotte County page on the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 website is at https://bao.arcgis.com/covid-19/jhu/county/20209.html.

The Johns Hopkins Data in Motion, a presentation on critical COVID-19 data in the past 24 hours, is at https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/covid-19-daily-video.

Monarchs game postponed because of weather

The Kansas City Monarchs were set to open their series with the Sioux Falls at 1 p.m. Monday, May 31, but the weather had other plans. After a morning’s worth of rain and a 55-minute delay, the game was postponed to Tuesday, June 1.

The Monarchs will now play a double-header of two seven-inning games against the Canaries with a first pitch scheduled for 5 p.m. for the first game and the first pitch of the second game coming approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one.

Tickets purchased for the May 31 game will be accepted for the June 1 make-up game or for any 2021 regular season home game.

Gates will open at 4 p.m. June 1 and Tyler’s Amazing Balancing Act will perform during the second game of the doubleheader.

Tuesday’s double-header can be heard on the Monarchs Broadcast Network with the pre-game beginning at 4:35 p.m. and the video stream will air on aabaseball.tv. The game can also be heard locally on 1510 ESPN Kansas City.

Tickets to all Monarchs games can be purchased by calling 913-328-5618 or by visiting monarchsbaseball.com. For Monday’s game, the gates open at noon.

  • Story from Dan Vaughan, Kansas City Monarchs

A cool, rainy start for summer and water activities

The weather took a cool and rainy turn for Memorial Day weekend, the traditional start of summer swimming and water activities.

In Wyandotte County, three spray parks were scheduled to open on Memorial Day weekend, but the only Unified Government swimming pool, the Parkwood Pool, 950 Quindaro Blvd., will not open this summer, according to UG officials.

Angel Obert of the UG Parks and Recreation Department said at the 5 p.m. April 29 meeting that they were working closely with the UG Health Department to make sure they are operating safely.

Spray parks will be open Memorial Day weekend, and will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week, Obert said.

Social distancing of 6 feet, with masks on, was required, except for people in the same household. Children can remove masks when actively playing in the water but otherwise should wear masks.

Parkwood Pool was expected to remain closed to the public for the summer 2021 season, Obert said. The pool will be filled to perform some routine maintenance, but not for public swimming.

A lifeguard training “work study” program will be offered to youth who are 16 and older, she said. This program, a six-week paid training program, was scheduled to start June 14, according to a social media post.

“I know that we are not the only organization, every aquatic department across the metro area has experienced a lack of lifeguards, and we lost a whole year of aquatics,” she said.

They are trying to rebuild the program to offer the community and youth something and be ready for the 2022 season, she said.

As things continue to change, they will make adjustments, she added.

She said the UG parks department was working on rebuilding youth sports, after not having many activities during the pandemic. Sports were introduced slowly in mid-March, and were building up to larger participation afterward.

The spray parks’ locations include: Eisenhower Park, 2901 N. 72nd St.; Pierson Park, 1800 S. 55th; and Heathwood Park, 1021 Parallel Parkway.

The Kansas City, Kansas, Board of Education recently heard a report that district staff are working on a plan to open some district facilities to community groups again. School swimming pools would not be included, however. In recent years there was some criticism from groups that said the fee was too high to use district facilities.

The Turner Aquatic Center, which is through the Turner Recreation Commission and Turner school district, has been operating under pandemic restrictions for the past year. The aquatic center is inside Turner High School. For information about rules and hours, visit https://www.turnerrecreation.org/departments/aquatics/index.php.

According to a Facebook note from the Turner Aquatics Center, there will be limited lap swimming and swim lessons beginning June 7.

The Bonner Springs Aquatic Park, 1200 S. 134th, was scheduled to begin lessons and swim team activities this week, with opening day on May 29.

However, the Bonner Springs Aquatic Park did not open on Memorial Day and the past few days because the temperature was below 70, with rain. For more information, visit https://www.bonnersprings.org/192/Aquatic-Park and https://www.facebook.com/BonnerSpringsPool/.

Season passes were available. Because of capacity limits, the Bonner Springs facility had sign-up sheets on its website at https://secure.rec1.com/KS/bonner-springs-ks/catalog?fbclid=IwAR00admgAQpzCHViueVAPxa1G0V5BHBIAVhMqpco9PqadIU2BTgiEdasQm0.