Several Kansas counties now issuing stay-home orders

Gov. Laura Kelly today said the state will be working with each county that has issued stay-home orders to provide assistance.

Gov. Kelly said there are now several counties with stay-home orders issued, including Johnson, Wyandotte, Leavenworth, Douglas, Atchison, Doniphan, Miami and Lyon. The decisions were made by local officials to stop the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

“While none of us want to see these orders go into effect, they are necessary to slow the spread of coronavirus in the community,” Gov. Kelly said.

Gov. Kelly said she did not issue a statewide stay-home order because 89 of the 105 counties do not have a confirmed case.

However, confirmed positive cases are expected to increase in the next 10 days, she said. The state has a framework for counties that decide to issue a stay-home order, she added. She did not rule out the possibility of a statewide order in the future.

She said on Tuesday, she would replace her order limiting mass gatherings in Kansas to 50, and in its place, a new executive order would limit mass gatherings to 10 persons, and also include the new framework for counties that want to issue stay-home orders.

“All of these actions, while disruptive and unpleasant, are absolutely necessary to keep Kansans safe and healthy, and to prevent overwhelming our emergency rooms and our larger health care system,” Gov. Kelly said. “We’ve all got to do our part and work together to protect our families and our communities. We learn more about this virus every single day and we are starting to see serious cases in every age group, not just among our seniors.

“The most effective way we can slow down the spread is to stay home and practice good hygiene techniques, so please continue to wash your hands, cover your mouths if you’re coughing or sneezing, and take all of these orders seriously,” she said.

“If we all do our part now, we can get this under control much more quickly, which will lead to more lives saved, Gov. Kelly said.

Kansas COVID-19 cases up to 79

COVID-19 cases in Kansas have risen to 79 as of 10 a.m. today, Dr. Lee Norman, Kansas health secretary said. Johnson County reported 32 positive cases; Wyandotte County, 16; Douglas County, 6; and Leavenworth County, 5. Earlier reports had counted some Douglas County cases twice, according to the KDHE.

He said it was somewhat encouraging that Kansas was not seeing the doubling of numbers every three or four days that other states were seeing. Sunday’s count was 64.

A lot of the 79 positive cases in Kansas have already recovered and are leading normal lives, he added. The total also includes two persons who died.

Dr. Norman said he is projecting 300 to 400 positive COVID-19 cases in Kansas by the end of this month.

The curve is starting to creep up, he said, and their job was to level it off through adhering to public health practices including good handwashing and hygiene, and staying at home in place.

Dr. Norman said children being out of school now probably will decrease the number of COVID-19 caes in the state.

The state was running low on test kits this past weekend and then received a new shipment of 500 on Saturday, Dr. Norman said. They also requested that college sand university research labs send them test kits, and that is another 200 tests.

With commercial labs now testing here, that means there is not as much demand on the state lab, he said.

Dr. Norman said the Kansas Health and Environmental Lab will now have a different strategy, since private labs are now testing.

Health care workers and first responders who have been exposed to COVID-19 now will receive priority, he said. Other priorities will be those who have respiratory illnesses, individuals over 60 with symptoms, with priority to nursing homes and senior centers, and individuals with underlying health conditions.