Gov. Laura Kelly announced on Thursday that 11 contracts have been awarded in conjunction with the Kansas COVID-19 Unified Testing Strategy supported with SPARK funding.
“Kansas is at a critical point with COVID-19,” Gov. Kelly said. “Our communities are continuing to experience a significant amount of cases. Until a vaccine is widely available, one of the most important strategies to protect Kansans and ensure a promising economy is to increase testing.”
“When combined with wearing face masks, extensive testing – along with isolating those who are positive and quarantining close contacts — poses the most probable fighting opportunity to stop the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as we head into the winter months,” according to Dr. Lee Norman, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
The Kansas Unified Testing Strategy will allow for broader routine screening to stop community spread of the virus and will ensure coordination between public and private testing efforts, including surveillance testing, a spokesman stated. The strategy includes sourcing the testing supplies and lab capacity, identifying appropriate populations to test, getting the samples and transporting them to the lab, processing and sharing the results, and ensuring that those who test positive are able to isolate.
Each of the 11 contractors will contribute to the overall strategy through implementing specific portions of the strategic plan and testing higher risk populations, according to a spokesman. Each entity will be responsible for testing in specific populations and counties, beginning next week.
Contracts have been awarded to:
• 4M
• Clinical Reference Lab
• Freestate Logistics
• MAWD
• Medevac
• NicUSA
• Quest
• Sinochips
• University of Kansas Health System
• WellHealth
• Wichita State University
Wyandotte County cases increase by 89; average number of COVID-19 patients in nine-county area hospitals increases by 145
Wyandotte County reported 89 additional COVID-19 cases on Thursday, with a cumulative total of 9,124, according to the Unified Government COVID-19 webpage. There were no additional deaths reported, for a cumulative total of 167. There were 86 Wyandotte County persons hospitalized with COVID-19.
The MARC Kansas City Region COVID-19 Hub resource, a nine-county region, reported 68,488 cumulative total COVID-19 cases in Greater Kansas City on Thursday. There is an average of 624 new cases a day for the last seven days, down 190 cases from last week.
There were 638 average COVID-19 patients daily in hospitals in Greater Kansas City, an increase of 145 per week from last week, according to the Greater Kansas City hub.
There were an average 148 COVID-19 patients daily in the hospital intensive care units in the nine-county area, an increase of 25 from last week, according to the Greater Kansas City hub.
There were a cumulative 917 deaths in Greater Kansas City, averaging about 2 per day currently, a decrease of almost one per day from last week, according to the Greater Kansas City hub.
On Thursday morning, the total number of COVID-19 patients at the University of Kansas Health System in Kansas City, Kansas, was 93. There were 67 active COVID-19 patients, with 20 in the intensive care unit and 12 on ventilators, according to Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control. Twenty-six hospital inpatients with COVID-19 were in the recovery period, with three of those on ventilators. The total number was down from 114 on Wednesday.
The KU Health System announced on Thursday morning it would start limiting surgeries because of the recent rise in hospitalizations and case numbers. See https://wyandotteonline.com/ku-health-system-limiting-surgeries-because-of-rise-of-covid-19-cases/.
Free COVID-19 testing available on Friday
The Unified Government Health Department has moved its COVID-19 testing from the 6th and Ann location to the former Kmart at 78th and State Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas. The hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Tests are free for those who live or work in Wyandotte County. The tests are now saliva COVID-19 tests.
The tests now 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.
For more information about the new testing site at the former Kmart location, visit https://alpha.wycokck.org/files/assets/public/health/documents/covid/10092020_newtestingsitewyco.pdf.
The UG COVID-19 webpage is at https://alpha.wycokck.org/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Information.
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 CDC’s COVID-19 webpage is at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html.
