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WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise in Sedgwick County, officials at the health department are recommending that masks be worn indoors in public. The recommendation falls in line with CDC guidance per the county’s community level.
The county said last week the community level of COVID-19 rose from low to medium, to medium to high this week. A high level recommends that everyone wear a mask indoors, stay up to date on vaccines, and get tested if they have symptoms. The community level is defined as a measure of case numbers, hospitalization, and hospital capacity.
The county said the confirmed new positive cases of COVID-19 have been slowly rising in Sedgwick County since early March. There were 844 new cases for the week ending on July 20, up from 517 new cases the same week in June. The county said more concerning is the percentage positives. As of July 20, 18% of confirmed tests are positive. The number of reported confirmed tests is holding fairly steady. Home tests are not included in this number. Percent positives up from 5% at the end of April, to 10% by the end of May.
In Kansas, the rolling average of confirmed new positive cases peaked at about 1,500/day on July 11. Data from the last week shows that new cases are starting to decrease (rolling average has dropped below 1000/day). Overall, cases in Kansas have been steadily rising since March when cases were less than 100/day. COVID-19 hospitalizations have also risen across the state to about 100 beds for COVID patients in June to 200 beds now – in July.
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