A COVID-19 coronavirus death has been reported in Wyandotte County, according to Gov. Laura Kelly, who spoke at a live-streamed news conference on Thursday in Topeka.
The victim, in his 70s, was a resident of an 80-bed skilled nursing home, according to officials, and was taken on Tuesday to Providence Medical Center, where he died Wednesday morning. He had other underlying medical conditions and was receiving care for them at the hospital, according to officials.
The patient was not tested for coronavirus until after he died, according to officials. He was in the hospital only a relatively short time, officials stated.
Mayor David Alvey, at the news conference, said, “We are terribly saddened to learn that one of our own has passed away.”
He said the UG Health Department will continue to conduct a contact investigation of the patient’s steps so they can identify anyone who has been exposed to the virus.
Dr. Lee Norman, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said others in the nursing home will be tested. He did not identify the name of the nursing home.
Gov. Kelly has declared a state of emergency in Kansas. It will open the Kansas response plan to bring in emergency response functions, according to officials, to coordinate and synchronize resources across the state.
State officials are planning to restrict visitations at nursing homes.
The case today was the fifth confirmed coronavirus case in Kansas and the first death in Kansas.
More information about COVID-19 is at the KDHE website at http://www.kdheks.gov/coronavirus/index.htm.
The Centers for Disease Control COVID-19 page is at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/summary.html.
The UG website on coronavirus is at www.wycokck.org/coronavirus.