Category: COVID-19

Numbers of positive COVID-19 cases continued to climb on Wednesday, with Kansas now at 482 cases and Wyandotte County at 93 cases, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

Kansas reported 482 positive COVID-19 cases on Wednesday morning, April 1, as compared to 428 on Tuesday morning, an increase of 54 cases in one day. The state had one more COVID-19 related death, bringing the total to 10 in Kansas.

Wyandotte County now has 93 positive COVID-19 cases, as compared to 75 on Tuesday morning and 89 on Tuesday evening. Wyandotte County has had four COVID-19 related deaths.

Johnson County reported 144 positive cases, an increase of 10 cases since Tuesday morning, and has three total deaths.

As the numbers continue to rise, Gov. Laura Kelly, in a news conference Wednesday, said that the “stay home” order would continue in place past Easter, which is April 12. The order is scheduled to continue through April 23.

“The idea that everybody is going to be congregating for Easter Mass is not realistic,” Gov. Kelly said. The stay-home order will still be in place. She said she is asking houses of worship to respect the limitation of 10 persons on gatherings, and to practice social distancing, which will make it difficult for them to all gather in one place.

Dr. Lee Norman, Kansas secretary of health, said at the news conference that it is important to limit groups to 10 people or less, observing social distancing.

There were 50 people in attendance at a church conference from March 16 to 22 at the Miracle Temple Church of God in Christ at 2106 Quindaro Blvd., in Kansas City, Kansas, where there was a positive COVID-19 case, he said. They are investigating the contacts, and have linked several cases now back to the church gathering, he added.

The conference took place before the stay-at-home order went into effect in Wyandotte County on March 24.

“It demonstrates how, in cases like this, cases just scatter to the wind, and they go to other counties,” Dr. Norman said. “So, other counties are involved in the investigations of the people who gathered for this church event.”

Health officials have asked anyone who attended the conference to get in touch with their doctor, a clinic or the Unified Government Health Department’s self-reporting website.

The Burlington Life Care Center in Burlington, Kansas, now has 14 positive COVID-19 cases, Dr. Norman said. He said there is now one death in a resident associated with COVID-19 there.

Dr. Norman said at the news conference that the number of cases at the end of March were about where he thought they would be, around 400.

He said the state is about 1 percent of the United States, and he believes Kansas will outperform numbers and not have deaths of 1 percent of the population of the state, as some have predicted. He said he thinks the deaths will be under 1,000.

He said he is currently working on projections for cases and deaths in Kansas. It varies widely by methodology used, he said.

The state prison, Lansing Correctional Facility, has reported three positive tests of staff, Gov. Kelly said. They were the first positive cases in the Kansas Department of Corrections, she said. The staff members were a man over 20 years old, and two women over 40 years old, according to KDOC.

Gov. Kelly said inmates in close contact with the positive cases were moved to medical isolation and were being monitored for symptoms. The process is similar to an individual who has been asked to self-isolate.

Dr. Norman said KDHE will manage oversight of the offenders and staff, and not the local health department, which could be overwhelmed if there are too many cases.

Also, Gov. Kelly announced that there is a new adjutant general of Kansas, Maj. Gen. David Weishaar, who succeeds Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli, who is retiring. Weishaar will direct the Kansas Emergency Management Department and coordinate the state’s response to the epidemic. Tafanelli will be staying on temporarily as an adviser.

Dr. Norman said the state is still struggling to get swabs to do testing for COVID-19. These are medical swabs, with no natural materials in them, and they are longer than ordinary swabs.

More testing should go online in Kansas in the next few weeks, he said, and the state needs more swabs to do the testing.

When they have adequate supplies of tests, the state plans to do some population studies, he said. About 78 percent of the positive tests have come from six counties, he said, and population studies are needed to determine how widespread COVID-19 is in the state. That will help health officials determine when it will be possible to go back to a more normal life.

The governor asked residents to “do your best to stay home, stay safe and save lives.”

More information from the news conference is at https://www.facebook.com/GovLauraKelly/videos/890710201360932/.

The Kansas COVID-19 website is at
https://govstatus.egov.com/coronavirus.

The UG’s COVID-19 response website is at
https://alpha.wycokck.org/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Information.

COVID-19 information from the CDC is at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html.

People who attended the Kansas East Jurisdiction’s 2020 Ministers and Workers Conference at the Miracle Temple Church of God in Christ at 2106 Quindaro Blvd, Kansas City, Kansas, from March 16 to 22 may have been exposed to the novel coronavirus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), according to the Kansas Department of Health.

This event has been identified as a place of exposure for multiple people in Kansas who have since become ill and tested positive for COVID-19, according to a KDHE spokesman. Wyandotte County’s stay-at-home order did not go into effect until March 24.

Symptoms for COVID-19 appear 2-14 days after exposure and include fever, cough and shortness of breath. Other rarer symptoms that may develop include malaise, sore throat and diarrhea.

If you develop any of these symptoms, but are not ill enough to seek medical care, you must stay home for at least 7 days after symptoms started or for 72 hours after fever is gone (without the use of fever-reducing medication) and with a significant improvement in symptoms, whichever is longer, a KDHE spokesman stated.

If you develop these symptoms and need to seek medical care, call your health care provider beforehand to inform them that you may have been exposed to COVID-19 and require medical attention.

If you attended this event and develop symptoms consistent with COVID-19 between 2 and 14 days later, call your local health department and they will conduct a confidential investigation to prevent further transmission of COVID-19, a KDHE spokesman stated.

For more information about COVID-19 in Kansas, visit www.kdheks.gov/coronavirus. For questions regarding isolation and quarantine for COVID-19, contact your local health department or KDHE’s Epidemiology Hotline at 877-427-7317.

The UG Health Department, in a news release, asked anyone who had been to the church event and who developed symptoms to do one of three actions:

• Call your primary health care provider.
• Report your symptoms online: www.wycokck.org/COVID-19.
• Call the Southwest Boulevard Family Health Care COVID-19 hotline: 913-396-7070.

According to the Unified Government Public Health Department, people who develop symptoms should stay home while they are sick, and for 10 days after symptoms are gone, including after fever is gone without the use of fever-reducing medication. If you develop these symptoms and need to seek medical care, call your health care provider beforehand to inform them that you may have been exposed to COVID-19 and require medical attention.

Dr. Allen Greiner, chief medical officer for the Unified Government Public Health Department, stated in the news release that community members and organizations need to be aware of the importance of social distancing and abiding by the stay-at-home order.

“If we want to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in Wyandotte, it is absolutely critical that community organizations like churches, businesses, and all of our community members stay home as much as possible, avoid gatherings of more than 10 people, and maintain a 6-foot distance between people in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19. We know this is disruptive to daily life, but it is necessary to protect our community.”

In other COVID-19 news today, Mayor David Alvey stated on a Facebook video presentation that some persons have been reported as not observing the six-foot social distancing rule while gathering at Wyandotte County Lake.

He said this rule will be enforced beginning this weekend. Violators could face as much as a $500 fine. The violation is a misdemeanor.

Besides maintaining a six-foot social distance, residents cannot gather in groups of 10 or more under the “stay-at-home” order.

Dr. Greiner reported on the video that a couple of large businesses in the community had positive cases, and that a unit of the UG had a positive case. The Health Department is tracking the cases, and there could be a need to quarantine contacts, he said.

He emphasized good personal hygiene and staying six feet away from others to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The video is at https://www.facebook.com/cityofkck/videos/587814255280278/UzpfSTE5MjcwOTg0NDEwNTI3NDozMDAzMzc5MTIzMDM4MzE4/?__tn__=kC-R&eid=ARCx-MI85-eYdN0a-eqrvbMCQBoInLBi7xnrY5zOwmrfB4IZnmxMtt1L4-PA7OEw1ahnungQZRmeqowD&hc_ref=ARQNHg8aQJCzlzTPdmKh7jIC3wLd7ryGegTde0RRTpy_dE6XwB1oYXxXXXCw0uX4Zsg&fref=nf&__xts__[0]=68.ARDRyL5Iv-9zbU7_Vvil_D4ks5csedjJuznOmQAr7QJIOlpzbhE6Cg91Bl5jIpxQ2SNYNJjyVRRYdqskrMy7jff_ERa0BvRkXzHeh_fuXuL6Jx_4OcuLjxNR4HhMhVJElVYgdlGOU_ME3o7BL56LRkqbAvys_EcDv7gVqjvqv7yRhmELlFJ9JO0zSmpF1wySA7F7xW_C86xhphSAt4BwUvs8yKy5C8p1bTdaUHee6SmbR96081poOVE0tVWtcmGRlWG_ayp8fiYw3lim9Wwx_Xgcl3ug2YLR8vMDyc_m3sFBcpIeaanataRPTJlRyKE9FsiNHDvihMWq4jpqHOp6IvVCM6LFiXvowh50TkTg_aRJjmsv3DtBYGTwLimZu3tnq59AqA__PfJokok_yeW8PoTCqoF5yTX7XMLMYqdhCCH-KyV5QgIAmdgQa7uehKa1vMuTBiFuoLbDWZBgZgdWh4iZQg4uYVhN3o2byQnmsmE_adT7fg-sFlXjedOHQJ60Ihy1.