TOPEKA—Dr. Lee Norman, Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), held a press briefing Wednesday afternoon to discuss the increase in Coronavirus in Kansas.
He will be joined by Dr. Dana Hawkinson with the University of Kansas Health System.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Kansas increased by 1,328 to a total of 43,940 the state health department reported Wednesday afternoon.
Coronavirus deaths were reported at 458, an increase of 12.
Governor Laura Kelly announced that beginning Wednesday, September 9, the state will begin to release the names and locations of active outbreaks in Kansas.
“With our children returning to school, sports resuming, and college campuses reopening – we’re seeing the largest increase in outbreaks to date,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “By sharing where the outbreaks take place, Kansans will be better informed about the threat of COVID-19 in their schools and communities, and will be better prepared to contain and stop the spread of the virus.”
Last week, Kansas saw the highest increase in outbreaks to date, with an increase of 26 from Wednesday to Friday, and ended the week with 170 active outbreaks.
Active locations will be released when there are five or more confirmed cases associated to the location. For private businesses, the name of the business will only be released if there are 20 or more cases associated with the location. In Kansas, an outbreak is defined as two or more cases associated with one known exposure.
This information will be published weekly on Wednesdays, beginning September 9, on the COVID-19 dashboard on the KDHE website, and will include the number of cases associated with each outbreak. Until now, the state has only issued press releases naming locations of outbreaks where contact tracing is not possible.
Kansas will join numerous other states already providing this information and will follow White House guidance in sharing this information on public-facing dashboards.