Although the mask and health orders expired Friday night in Wyandotte County, the Unified Government is offering COVID-19 guidance for residents.
During the UG Commission meeting on Thursday, some commissioners said it was important to follow mask guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They also said that businesses and other organizations may implement their own mask policies for visitors and workers at their sites.
The UG Health Department will continue its COVID-19 response efforts, according to Health Department Director Juliann Van Liew.
“As a health department we will continue to strongly encourage the use of masks for individuals who are unvaccinated, especially indoors, and we will continue to focus on vaccines,” Van Liew said. “We will also encourage our local businesses and other entities to require masks indoors in their places of operation. We will also, of course, require masks in all areas of our COVID-19 vaccine operations, including stationary and mobile sites, and other Health Department facilities.”
Mask guidance for individuals
*Fully vaccinated persons means you have received all doses (two doses for Pfizer or Moderna, or one dose for Johnson and Johnson) and at least two weeks have passed since your final dose.
Mask guidance for organizations and businesses
The UG is no longer requiring masks or social distancing in Wyandotte County. However, organizations in the county may establish their own policies.
• Businesses and organizations may choose to implement mask requirements for their workers, customers, members and visitors.
• For example, a business could require employees to wear masks while at work and require customers to wear a mask in order to enter the business.
• School boards may choose to implement mask requirements for faculty, staff, students and vsitors.
• Community members are likely to be asked to wear a mask in health-related settings such as clinics and doctors’ offices.
Events and gatherings
If you are planning a large gathering or event, here are some guidelines to keep in mind:
• If everyone attending is vaccinated, it is fine to go without masks.
• If people in attendance are not vaccinated, or you are uncertain of the vaccination status of attendees, encourage people who are not vaccinated to wear masks. You may want to consider asking everyone to wear masks as an extra precaution.
• If it is possible to keep a list of attendees, this can help for contact tracing if there were cases or an outbreak following the event.
• Make hand hygiene accessible by offering places to wash hands or by providing hand sanitizer.
• Consider offering a mobile COVID-19 vaccine clinic or including COVID-19 vaccines as part of your event. Submit a mobile vaccine request at WycoVaccines.org or call 3-1-1.
Masks in UG facilities
Visitors will be required to wear a mask upon entry to any UG facility, including the UG Health Department’s vaccination sites.
Continued importance of vaccine and testing
The CDC recommends COVID-19 vaccination for people age 12 or older. The Health Department continues to provide free COVID-19 vaccinations for anyone age 12 and older, with or without an appointment, and with no health insurance needed. Additionally, free COVID-19 saliva tests are available at the Health Department vaccination sites, and testing can now be delivered to a person’s home by submitting a request online or by calling 3-1-1. Testing is still strongly recommended for anyone who has symptoms, and for unvaccinated people with a known exposure to COVID-19 or as a precaution, such as before or after travel.
More information about vaccines is at WycoVaccines.org or call 3-1-1. Other COVID-19 information, including testing information, is at wycokck.org/COVID-19.
CDC guidance
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provide guidance on masks. The guidance states that it is relatively safe for people who are fully vaccinated to go without masks in most settings, including indoor public spaces. People who are unvaccinated or not yet fully vaccinated are strongly urged to continue wearing masks in public settings.
For more information about the CDC’s guidance on masks, see https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/participate-in-activities.html,
Free walk-in vaccinations available Saturday
Free walk-in COVID-19 vaccinations will be available for everyone 18 and older from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, May 29, at the Kansas National Guard Armory, 100 S. 20th (near 18th and Ridge), Kansas City, Kansas. This clinic is in partnership with Donnelly College. 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.
UG Health Department vaccinations are now open to people from other counties and states. People may walk in for vaccinations or can schedule them.
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.
Case numbers reported
The number of active COVID-19 patients was holding steady Friday at the University of Kansas Health System, according to Dr. Hawkinson. There were six active COVID-19 patients, no change from Thursday. One of the patients was in the intensive care unit, no change from Thursday. None was on a ventilator. Twelve other patients were hospitalized because of COVID-19 but were not in the acute infection phase, the same as Thursday. The total is 18 patients.
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 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 50.
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.
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 Friday night reported 33,239,700 cumulative COVID-19 cases in the United States, with 593,955 total deaths reported nationwide. There were 27,525 new cases nationwide and 1,338 new deaths nationwide.
States with rising numbers of new cases were California, 5,339; Florida, 2,338; Texas 1,601; Washington 1,531; and Pennsylvania, 1,293.
Countries with rising numbers of new cases were India, 186,364; Brazil, 67,467; Argentina, 41,080; U.S., 27,525; and Colombia, 25,092, according to Johns Hopkins information.
Free testing available Saturday
Free COVID-19 testing will be offered from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, May 29, at the Kansas National Guard Armory, 200 S. 20th St., (near 18th and Ridge), Kansas City, Kansas. Appointments are not needed.
For more information, about UG Health Department COVID-19 testing sites and hours, visit https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/pages/what-to-do-if-you-think-you-have-covid-19. To see if there is any change to the schedule, visit https://www.facebook.com/UGHealthDept. Appointments are not needed.
One of the WellHealth sites for free COVID-19 testing is open beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday, May 29, 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.