New coronavirus cases leaped in Kansas in the week ending Sunday, rising 13.9% as 5,734 cases were reported. The previous week had 5,034 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.
Kansas ranked 14th among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the latest week coronavirus cases in the United States decreased 17.1% from the week before, with 543,317 cases reported. With 0.88% of the country’s population, Kansas had 1.06% of the country’s cases in the last week. Across the country, 16 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.
The Labor Day holiday may have altered how many people can get tested and when, and when governments report testing results and deaths. This will skew week-to-week comparisons.
Saline County reported 131 cases and zero deaths in the latest week. A week earlier, it had reported 126 cases and minus one death. Throughout the pandemic it has reported 15,753 cases and 249 deaths.
Within Kansas, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Grant County with 615 cases per 100,000 per week; Morris County with 605; and Sheridan County with 555. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.
Adding the most new cases overall were Sedgwick County, with 1,038 cases; Johnson County, with 801 cases; and Shawnee County, with 416. Weekly case counts rose in 54 counties from the previous week. The worst increases from the prior week’s pace were in Sedgwick, Douglas and Crawford counties.
>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases
Across Kansas, cases fell in 49 counties, with the best declines in Rooks County, with 7 cases from 40 a week earlier; in Ellis County, with 49 cases from 69; and in Shawnee County, with 416 cases from 431.
In Kansas, 61 people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 11 people were reported dead.
A total of 864,853 people in Kansas have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 9,019 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 94,748,404 people have tested positive and 1,047,498 people have died.
>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States
Kansas’s COVID-19 hospital admissions falling
USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Sunday, Sept. 4. Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:
- Last week: 620
- The week before that: 641
- Four weeks ago: 723
Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:
- Last week: 63,337
- The week before that: 64,048
- Four weeks ago: 71,125
Hospitals in 10 states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in 15 states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in 21 states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.
The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com.
