U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, today announced an additional $400 million will be provided to Kansas hospitals affected by COVID-19.
The funding will come from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. According to Sen. Moran, an initial grant of $18 to a Kansas hospital that treated a lot of COVID-19 cases will be followed by $382 million to be distributed among 201 rural health care providers affected by COVID-19.
On Friday morning, Sen. Moran said in a video news conference at the University of Kansas Health Service that he was supporting a measure that would allow public hospitals to qualify for the federal Paycheck Protection Program. Hospitals that were sponsored by cities or counties could not get access to that program in the past.
At most hospitals, revenues are down while expenses are up as a result of COVID-19.
Sen. Moran also said today that additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program recently passed, and local small businesses could apply for loans again with local lenders, beginning Monday.
Sen. Moran said he was concerned about doing everything possible to make sure employees in the meatpacking industry are safe. The industry is important to consumers and also to the livestock sector as well, he said.
After reports that large companies received funds under the PPP law, U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, D-3rd Dist., has sent a letter on Thursday asking the Treasury Department to release a list of companies receiving loans. Nearly $700 billion was allocated for the small business loans, and there have been reports larger businesses received loans while some smaller businesses could not get the loans.
Sen. Moran said in answer to a question at the news conference that they can never not have concerns about abuse of government programs, and what Congress intended and what the law allowed could be different. Also, it may be hard to punish people who didn’t break the law, he added.
He said he also supported more accountability for the program. The challenge with this law was the rapidity with which Congress and the SBA had to move, he added. Usually, more time is taken to consider the language of the bills and to put new laws into place.
Sen. Moran also said he had spent time this week in trying to find more tests for Kansas to use in broad-scale testing. Gov. Laura Kelly previously has announced 25,000 more tests are coming to Kansas from the federal government this week.
Dr. Lee Norman, Kansas secretary of health, said at the news conference today that statewide, they are looking at three primary indicators in deciding to move forward to the next stage. They are the death rate per capita, the hospitalization rate per capita and the prevalence per disease per capita. These three indicators are improving, he said.
The state is doing more testing now, and finding more illness. Dr. Norman said that the state now has received more testing kits and swabs, allowing more testing.
Dr. Norman said it appears that the state COVID-19 cases peaked on April 17 or 18.
The plan is to gradually reopen the state, and they are trying to be in the middle of the opinions on reopening or staying closed.
The success of the reopening will depend on people exercising caution, he said.
Gov. Kelly announced the reopening plan on Thursday night, with counties allowed to exercise a measure of control based on their own circumstances.
Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer for the University of Kansas Health System, said Kansas and the Kansas City area have done a good job of bending the curve.
As reopening plans move forward, residents will have to continue to follow the rules of good hygiene, including hand washing, not touching your face, and social distancing.
Dr. Norman said people are likely to see changes coming to workplaces as a result of this pandemic.
For example, some may change the way air circulates in the workplace. Some offices may do away with “benching,” where workers share common areas working at benches, he said.
Telework will probably become more widespread, according to Dr. Norman, while there may be more flexible scheduling, and changes in the breakroom.
Statewide positive cases increase 211
On Friday, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 4,449 positive COVID-19 cases and 130 deaths. It was an increase of 211 cases and one death.
Wyandotte County reported 709 cases, an increase of 35 cases; Johnson County, 471 cases; and Leavenworth County, 372 cases.
In other areas of the state, Ford County had 675 cases, an increase of 27 cases; Seward County, 514 cases; Sedgwick County, 384 cases; Finney County, 386 cases; Lyon County, 210 cases; and Shawnee County, 121 cases.
To view the KU Health System news conference, visit https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital
The Wyandotte County reopening plan, a 41-page document, was posted Thursday night at https://www.wycokck.org/WycoKCK/media/Health-Department/Documents/Communicable%20Disease/COVID19/RestartWYCOGuidanceDocument043020.pdf
The Kansas COVID-19 website is at https://covid.ks.gov/.
The Kansas COVID-19 resource page is at https://govstatus.egov.com/coronavirus
The UG’s COVID-19 webpage is at https://alpha.wycokck.org/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Information.
Information from the CDC is at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/.