3 Kansas counties move to CDC’s high COVID community level. Here’s the latest on cases
Three Kansas counties are at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s high COVID-19 community level this week after zero were at that level last week.
Osborne, Mitchell and Jewell counties are all at the high level as of Thursday. The CDC updates the metric each week for U.S. counties and bases the assessment on the number of new cases and hospitalizations per 100,000 people (seven-day totals) and the percent of staffed hospital beds occupied by COVID-positive patients (a seven-day average).
In addition, seven counties are at medium level this week, and Sedgwick County remains at low.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reports 1,290 new cases statewide from March 15 to March 22, down slightly from the prior week.
KDHE has three Kansas counties — Hodgeman, Rice and Anderson — at its high incident rate, which means those areas are experiencing more than 100 cases per a population of 100,000.
Sedgwick County is at its moderate rate, meaning it’s seeing about 10 to 49 cases per that 100,000.
COVID-19 in Sedgwick County
Taking a closer look at the county, the Sedgwick County Health Department reported the positive test rate at 6.7% Friday, about 1% lower than it was last week. The rate accounts for the 14-day average of recorded positives over the total number administered and does not include at-home tests and those not reported to the health department.
The county reported 79 cases over the last seven days. The week before, there were 91 positive tests.
The most positive tests the county reported on a single day during the last week was 18 on March 18. The lowest was five on March 19.
Take a look at the Sedgwick County Health Department’s COVID-19 dashboard below, which updates every Friday with the latest information.
