When it comes to the numbers that are seen in the daily counts on the Unified Government’s COVID-19 webpage, they are confirmed after being reported to the Health Department.
Occasionally the Wyandotte Daily’s readers comment on the numbers of cases, and some readers are in apparent disbelief. The Wyandotte County numbers on the state KDHE and Wyandotte County websites are different, as one is a total of confirmed and probable cases, while the other is confirmed cases only.
In answer to a question about why the Wyandotte County numbers on the Kansas Department of Health and Environment website are different from the numbers on the UG’s COVID-19 website, Janell Friesen, spokesman for the UG Health Department, asked the Health Department’s chief epidemiologist, and responded:
“We track both confirmed cases and ‘probable’ cases of COVID-19. Our confirmed and probable cases are listed separately on our Hub, and on the KDHE site they combine the confirmed and probable cases together,” Friesen wrote.
“Additionally, when cases are reported to us, our staff go through and confirm that they live in Wyandotte County before including the case in our numbers. From time to time, a case that had been initially reported as a Wyandotte case turns out to be in another county, so we will not include that in our county numbers.”
Friesen also was asked about whether there was a delay in the reports of deaths, as one reader had maintained. Her response:
“There can be some delay. Here is what our chief epidemiologist shared about what that process looks like after a death due to COVID-19:
“The doctor who pronounces the death signs a death certificate with causes of death. In order for it to be counted as a COVID death, the death certificate must have COVID as either the primary cause of death or a contributing factor.
“The death certificate is then filed with the state, who then reports to us it is a COVID death. This all takes time.
“Sometimes, the hospital will directly report to us they had a COVID death, but sometimes we have to wait for the above process to happen.”
On Saturday afternoon, the Wyandotte County COVID-19 webpage reported 85 more COVID-19 cases than Friday afternoon, with a cumulative total of 5,222. There were no increases in deaths since Friday, with the cumulative number remaining at 107.
Wyandotte County is under a mandatory mask order and is in Phase 3 of the state’s reopening plan. For more information, residents may visit the UG COVID-19 website at https://alpha.wycokck.org/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Information or call 311 for more information.
More details and graphs about COVID-19 in Wyandotte County are at https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/.
The UG Health Department sports order is online at https://alpha.wycokck.org/files/assets/public/health/documents/covid/08132020localhealthofficerorderregardingsports.pdf.
For more information on who may be tested and what to bring, visit https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/pages/what-to-do-if-you-think-you-have-covid-19.
The Wyandotte County school start order is online at https://alpha.wycokck.org/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Information.
The CDC’s COVID-19 web page is at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html.