Wyandotte County reported 824 positive COVID-19 cases on Sunday, an increase of 62 cases since 1:50 p.m. Saturday, according to the Unified Government’s COVID-19 webpage.
There were no increases in deaths and hospitalizations by Sunday afternoon in Wyandotte County, according to the report. Wyandotte County is continuing its stay-at-home order until May 11.
The state of Kansas reported 5,030 cases with 134 deaths on Sunday, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. It was an increase of 284 cases since Saturday. There was an increase of three deaths since Saturday.
The KDHE stated there were cases in 80 counties on Sunday.
On Sunday, Leavenworth County increased 112 cases, totaling 498 cases. One hundred two of the new cases are inmates at Lansing Correctional Facility, according to a post on the Leavenworth County Health Department COVID-19 webpage.
Johnson County also reported 498 total cases, according to the KDHE.
Some of the other counties reporting large numbers of COVID-19 cases, according to KDHE, included: Ford County (Dodge City area), 815; Seward County (Liberal area), 547; Finney County (Garden City area), 457; Sedgwick County (Wichita area), 399; Lyon County (Emporia area), 248; and Shawnee County (Topeka area), 127.
Douglas County (Lawrence area) reported 51 cases, and Riley County (Manhattan area) reported 54 cases, according to the KDHE.
Two commissioners want testing on west side
On Thursday night, during a Unified Government Commission meeting, Commissioners Tom Burroughs and Mike Kane asked for more testing for western Wyandotte County.
They made their remarks during a report detailing new pop-up testing sites on the east side of Wyandotte County.
UG Health Department officials said they had been working with the health equity task force to offer more sites on the east side.
Providence to participate in plasma study
During the past week, Providence Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas, announced it would participate in a nationwide Mayo Clinic study that looked at the use of convalescence plasma as a therapy for COVID-19.
According to a news release, a Providence patient would begin to receive convalescence plasma this past week.
Dr. Sabato Sisillo, Providence chief medical officer, who is a pulmonologist and critical care specialist, along with Dr. Samir Desai, infectious disease specialist, are the principal investigators for the medical center. They will be collaborating with Mayo Clinic to identify and enroll possible patients into this study.
“We look forward to participating in this study as we all work towards aggressive steps in the fight against COVID-19 in our local community,” Dr. Sisillo said.
According to the Mayo Clinic, the treatment is based on the function of antibodies, proteins created by the immune system that combat invaders to the body in a variety of ways. Some are capable of neutralizing a virus, while others work by mobilizing a range of other immune cells that fight off disease. It’s not yet known by which mechanism COVID-19 antibodies might work, but the thinking is that an infusion of convalescent plasma may boost a generalized response, known as passive immunity, until a patient develops a strong, targeted ability to fight the virus.
The UG’s COVID-19 webpage is at https://alpha.wycokck.org/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Information.
The Wyandotte County reopening plan, a 41-page document, was posted Thursday night at https://www.wycokck.org/WycoKCK/media/Health-Department/Documents/Communicable%20Disease/COVID19/RestartWYCOGuidanceDocument043020.pdf
The Kansas COVID-19 website is at https://covid.ks.gov/.
The Kansas COVID-19 resource page is at https://govstatus.egov.com/coronavirus
Information from the CDC is at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/.