COVID-19 LIVE UPDATES: 40.9% of population in Kansas has received at least 1 vaccine dose – KMBC Kansas City

The Kansas City metro area continues to reopen as more and more of the population gets the COVID-19 vaccine.What you need to know:The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said Friday the state has 312,997 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and there have been 5,057 deaths since the outbreak started. Overall, the state said 40.9% of the population has been vaccinated with at least one dose.The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said Friday there have been 508,968 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the outbreak and 9,005 deaths. Overall, the state said 40.3% of the population has received at least one dose and 33.4% have completed vaccination.FRIDAY4:30 p.m. — Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has vetoed a Republican proposal to set aside hundreds of millions of the federal coronavirus relief dollars received by Kansas to compensate small businesses. READ MORE4 p.m. — Directors of 11 local public health departments joined together to sign a letter recommending school districts in the Kansas City area continue to require masks in school. The letter, issued Friday afternoon through the Mid-America Regional Council, said the continued recommendation for masking is in accordance with recent changes in guidance from the CDC. READ MORE12:30 p.m. — The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported an increase of 406 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in its first update since Wednesday, pushing the statewide total to 312,997 since the outbreak started.KDHE reported four new deaths, making the total since the start of the outbreak 5,057. The state reported hospitalizations increased by 42 to 10,597 since the start of the outbreak.State health officials are now also tracking MIS-C cases in the state, or Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in children, associated with COVID-19. So far, the state notes 14 cases.The overall monthly positivity is at 2.8% for May 2021 to date, slightly down from last month according to the KDHE. That number is still down from a high of 16.5% in November.The state also said it has vaccinated 1,191,204 people, 2,120,350 total doses of the vaccine have been administered and 40.9% of the population has been vaccinated with one dose.[ KANSAS COVID-19 COVID-19 DASHBOARD ]Johnson County is the county with the most confirmed COVID-19 cases since the start of the outbreak with 58,961 cases. Sedgwick County is second with 57,079. Wyandotte County is third with 20,544 cases. Leavenworth County has 7,243 cases, Douglas County reports 8,909 and Miami County has 2,767.Health officials said they’re now monitoring 70 outbreak clusters – up from just 47 at the start of May. A total of 1,552 cases have been attributed to these clusters with 59 hospitalizations and 20 deaths.9 a.m. — One day before it’s scheduled to open on Saturday, Worlds of Fun announced that it has updated its face coverings policy. The amusement park said Friday that when the park opens at 11 a.m. Saturday, face coverings are now optional for fully vaccinated guests. The same policy will also be in place when Oceans of Fun opens the following weekend for the start of its season. READ MORE8:45 a.m. — The Shawnee Mission School District is trying to figure out how to keep school board meetings accessible online without hindering public comments after YouTube concluded that a video of a recent meeting spread misinformation about COVID-19 and removed it. The Shawnee Mission school board’s meeting Monday saw several parents and a Kansas lawmaker call for the district to remove its mask mandate. READ MORE8:30 a.m. — Kansas is changing its strategy for reaching herd immunity from COVID-19 from holding mass immunization clinics to doctor’s offices and pharmacies give shots. Public health officials say the change will make getting the shots more convenient for some people or tap into their existing trust in their doctors to overcome hesitation about getting vaccinated. Kansas has seen its rate of vaccinations drop. It has ratcheted back on ordering more from the federal government. This week, it sought only 2.3% of its allotment. The state health department is now allowing health care providers to order as little as a single vial of doses at a time.8:15 a.m. — Officials with the University of Kansas Health System said doctors at the University of Kansas Hospital are currently treating seven active COVID-19 infections. Of those seven, three patients are in the ICU and one is on a ventilator. Of the seven five were not vaccinated, hospital officials said. 7:30 a.m. — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services announced the state’s total of confirmed COVID-19 cases reached 508,968 on Friday, which is an increase of 431 cases. The state also reported there have been 86,491(+712) possible antigen cases to date.The state said there have now been 9,005 (+9) deaths since the start of the outbreak. The overall seven-day positivity rate for the state is at 3.8%, according to the MDHSS. That number is still down from a high of 23.1% in November.The state said it has administered 4,410,638 vaccine doses, 2,491,876 people have initiated vaccination (or received one dose) and 2,060,830 people have received a second dose. Overall, the state said 40.6% of the population has received at least one dose and 33.6% have completed vaccination.An estimated 38.5% of Kansas City residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while Jackson County is at 37.7%, Clay County is at 31.4%, Cass County is at 31.6% and Platte County is at 27.1%.[ MISSOURI COVID-19 DASHBOARD]Missouri does not list how many people have recovered from COVID-19.The state reported there have been 1,805 positive cases over the last seven days and an average of 258 cases a day.Looking at local numbers, the DHSS reported 39,324 confirmed cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 32,158 cases in Jackson County. The state also lists 8,371 cases in Clay County, 7,719 in Cass County and 3,322 in Platte County.6 a..m. — Fewer Americans sought unemployment benefits last week – the latest encouraging sign for the rebounding U.S. economy – just as Republican-led states are moving to cut off a federal benefit for the jobless.Twenty-two states, from Texas and Georgia to Ohio and Iowa, plan to begin blocking a $300-a-week federal payment for the unemployed starting in June, according to an Associated Press analysis. All have Republican governors and legislatures.Recipients have been able to receive the $300 federal benefit on top of their regular state unemployment aid. The payment, which lasts nationwide until Sept. 6, was included in President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion financial rescue package.The states that plan to cut off the federal benefit represent nearly every one that is controlled fully by Republicans. Florida is considering ending the supplemental payment. And Nebraska, which officially has a nonpartisan legislature, has said it will maintain the payments while it evaluates all pandemic-related jobless benefits.The move is also being considered in two additional states that have Democratic governors, Kansas and Wisconsin, though the Wisconsin governor is likely to veto any rollback passed by the legislature. As a result of the action, about 3.5 million people will have their benefits reduced in the coming months, according to Oxford Economics.Those cutoffs coincide with a steady decline in the number of Americans seeking unemployment aid, which fell last week to 444,000, a new pandemic low, the Labor Department said Thursday. Jobless claims have now dropped in five of the past six weeks, a sign that the economy keeps strengthening as consumers spend freely again, viral infections drop and business restrictions ease.In addition to ending the extra payment, most of the same states are also withdrawing from programs that provide jobless aid to self-employed or gig workers and to people who have been unemployed for more than six months. Among them is Latricia Hampton, who worries that without the $300 weekly federal check, she will fall behind on her mobile phone and internet bills. “Those smaller bills are what I’m going to have to get rid of,” said Hampton, 40, who lives in Gary, Indiana. “That might not sound like much to some people, but that’s another barrier to me finding work. That’s my kids who can’t do schoolwork at home on the computer.”Hampton had worked at a hair salon near Gary until last April, when it shut down because of the pandemic. Now, she spends hours a day applying for jobs on her phone but has yet to make it past the interview stage. She also has had trouble finding jobs that fit with her two young children’s schedules, who are 4 and 8.”It’s not like I can just go pick up a job at McDonald’s, and that’ll solve my problems,” she said. “I have two young kids. They need me, and when I’m not there, they need to be cared for. I’m a working-class single parent. We still need help in this pandemic, not pushed off the edge of a cliff and told to fly again.”About 16 million people were receiving unemployment benefits during the week ending May 1, the latest period for which data is available, the government said Thursday. That is down from 16.9 million in the previous week, and it suggests that some Americans who had been receiving aid have found jobs. In Oklahoma, Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt said this week that the state will end the federal benefit on June 26. That was unhappy news for Gilbert Cruz and his wife, Marrissa Enloe-Cruz, whose graphic design company in Tulsa has suffered a collapse in business since the pandemic struck. Both received jobless aid under the program for self-employed. Now, they’re unsure what they’ll do, especially because they’re uneasy about sending their 7-year-old son back to school before being vaccinated.“It’s going to mean picking and choosing what bills to pay, or getting behind on things,” Enloe-Cruz said. “It will mean whether or not we’re able to put food on the table.”Eliminating the $300-a-week payment is one of several measures that states have taken to restrict or eliminate jobless aid and press more recipients to seek work. That trend gained momentum after the April jobs report, released earlier this month, showed that employers added far fewer jobs than expected, in part because many couldn’t find enough workers.Research suggests that roughly half the unemployed are receiving more income from jobless benefits, when you include the weekly $300 federal supplement, than their former jobs paid them. An analysis by Bank of America found that people who earned under $32,000 at their old jobs are likely now receiving more in unemployment aid than they did from working. Yet some point to the steady decline in the number of Americans receiving jobless benefits as evidence that most of the unemployed are still willing to take jobs when they’re available. “Today’s data indicates that unemployment aid is not keeping workers on the sidelines,” said Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation. “Emergency unemployment aid is doing what it is meant to do: Serving as a temporary lifeline while workers search for and return to work.”In July last year, four months after the pandemic tore through the economy, roughly twice as many people as now – 32 million – were receiving some form of unemployment benefit, though that figure was likely inflated by fraud. As recently as late February this year, about 20 million people were receiving aid. Even so, 19 states say they will also cut off all benefits for the self-employed and gig workers, who became newly eligible for jobless aid under a relief package that was enacted in March last year. They will also drop out of a federal program for people who have been out of work for more than six months.Those moves will end all benefits for approximately 3.6 million of the nearly 16 million people receiving aid – about one in four of current recipients – according to the Century Foundation. In addition, 35 states have reinstated a requirement that jobless aid recipients search for work in order to keep receiving benefits. That requirement had been suspended at the start of the pandemic, when many businesses were closed and Americans were encouraged to stay at home.In Dayton, Ohio, work evaporated for Terri Ashman, a house painter, and her husband, Steve, a remodeler, after the pandemic hit in March of last year. They struggled to obtain unemployment benefits because of delays that resulted from a flood of applicants that overwhelmed many state workforce agencies. Eventually, they did receive aid and began to save money, in part because of the $300-a-week federal payment. By then, they had moved in with Terri’s mother after a period of homelessness. They now have nearly the entire $8,000 payment they need for their new home in Celina, near Dayton. They are required to pay a year’s rent because of their credit problems.But the two have little else saved and were counting on the continued federal payments through September to pay bills. Terri Ashman, 54, just received her second coronavirus vaccine shot, but she struggles with asthma and high blood pressure. She said she is willing to work even minimum wage jobs. But first she needs to get back on her feet.“We finally were almost able to crawl out of this hole,” she said. “Without (the $300), we’re going to be living on the edge of the cliff.”[ HOW TO GET THE VACCINE IN KANSAS, MISSOURI ][ WHERE WE STAND: MAPS, CHARTS SHOW COVID-19 CASES, VACCINATION RATES ] THURSDAY3:30 p.m. — Kansas is changing its strategy for reaching herd immunity from COVID-19 from holding mass immunization clinics to doctor’s offices and pharmacies give shots. Public health officials say the change will make getting the shots more convenient for some people or tap into their existing trust in their doctors to overcome hesitation about getting vaccinated. Kansas has seen its rate of vaccinations drop. It has ratcheted back on ordering more from the federal government. This week, it sought only 2.3% of its allotment. The state health department is now allowing health care providers to order as little as a single vial of doses at a time.2 p.m. — The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has updated the state’s travel quarantine list to include the state of Maine, 12 counties in Colorado, and several new countries. For anyone visiting these areas, it is recommended you quarantine for 10 days, or 7 days with a negative COVID-19 test, upon returning to Kansas.In addition to anyone who traveled to Maine on or after May 20 being added to the list, these 12 counties in Colorado have also been included: Alamosa, Baca, Costilla, Dolores, Mesa, Mineral, Otero, Prowers, Rio Grande, Saguache, Sedgwick and Yuma.Also on the updated list: Anyone who traveled on or after May 20 to Costa Rica, French Guiana, Georgia, Lithuania, or the Netherlands. While eight Colorado countries were removed from the list, these counties, added to the list on May 6, still remain on the quarantine list: Adams, Arapahoe, Archuleta, Conejos, Crowley, Douglas, El Paso, Elbert, Fremont, Huerfano, Jefferson, Larimer and Pueblo.Note: Anyone who is fully vaccinated within the past six months, or who can prove a positive coronavirus test in the past six months, is not included in the recommendation to quarantine. Click here to learn more. 8:30 a.m. — Officials with the University of Kansas Health System said doctors at the University of Kansas Hospital are currently treating seven active COVID-19 infections. Of those seven, two patients are in the ICU and both are on a ventilator. In addition, 13 more patients remain in the hospital in the recovery phase.7:30 a.m. — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services announced the state’s total of confirmed COVID-19 cases reached 508,537 on Thursday, which is an increase of 332 cases. The state also reported there have been 85,778 (+523) possible antigen cases to date.The state said there have now been 8,996 (+0) deaths since the start of the outbreak. The overall seven-day positivity rate for the state is at 3.7%, according to the MDHSS. That number is still down from a high of 23.1% in November.The state said it has administered 4,380,479 vaccine doses, 2,472,539 people have initiated vaccination (or received one dose) and 2,048,355 people have received a second dose. Overall, the state said 40.3% of the population has received at least one dose and 33.4% have completed vaccination.An estimated 38.1% of Kansas City residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while Jackson County is at 37%, Clay County is at 31.1%, Cass County is at 31.4% and Platte County is at 26.8%.[ MISSOURI COVID-19 DASHBOARD]Missouri does not list how many people have recovered from COVID-19.The state reported there have been 1,715 positive cases over the last seven days and an average of 245 cases a day.Looking at local numbers, the DHSS reported 39,280 confirmed cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 32,142 cases in Jackson County. The state also lists 8,364 cases in Clay County, 7,717 in Cass County and 3,321 in Platte County.7 a.m. — Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly is facing increasing pressure from companies, business groups and prominent Republicans to have Kansas stop paying an extra $300 a week in benefits to unemployed workers.The top three Republicans in the Kansas House on Wednesday called on Kelly to end the additional benefits. Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr., of Olathe, Speaker Pro Tem Blaine Finch, of Ottawa, and Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, of Wichita, issued a joint statement calling the extra benefits “counterproductive.” READ MORE[ HOW TO GET THE VACCINE IN KANSAS, MISSOURI ][ WHERE WE STAND: MAPS, CHARTS SHOW COVID-19 CASES, VACCINATION RATES ] WEDNESDAY9:15 p.m. — Douglas County will keep its mask mandate after county leaders didn’t come to a vote Wednesday on removing the current health order or creating a new one. That means the health order will be in place for at least another week. READ MORE4:30 p.m. — The University of Central Missouri that beginning Thursday, it will remove the on-campus face covering requirement for fully vaccinated individuals. The university said it made the decision after considering the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest guidance and consulting with health experts. Individuals on campus who have not been fully vaccinated should follow CDC guidance, and those who desire to wear face coverings may continue wearing them and are not discouraged from doing so. 1:15 p.m. — The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported an increase of 518 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in its first update since Monday, pushing the statewide total to 312,591 since the outbreak started.KDHE reported 13 new deaths, making the total since the start of the outbreak 5,053. The state reported hospitalizations increased by 45 to 10,555 since the start of the outbreak.State health officials are now also tracking MIS-C cases in the state, or Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in children, associated with COVID-19. So far, the state notes 14 cases.The overall monthly positivity is at 2.9% for May 2021 to date, slightly down from last month according to the KDHE. That number is still down from a high of 16.5% in November.The state also said it has vaccinated 1,178,999 people, 2,099,296 total doses of the vaccine have been administered and 40.5% of the population has been vaccinated with one dose.[ KANSAS COVID-19 COVID-19 DASHBOARD ]Johnson County is the county with the most confirmed COVID-19 cases since the start of the outbreak with 58,864 cases. Sedgwick County is second with 56,960. Wyandotte County is third with 20,511 cases. Leavenworth County has 7,238 cases, Douglas County reports 8,897 and Miami County has 2,766.Health officials said they’re now monitoring 70 outbreak clusters – up from just 47 at the start of May. A total of 1,552 cases have been attributed to these clusters with 59 hospitalizations and 20 deaths.12:30 p.m. — Starting today, Walgreens will no longer require fully vaccinated customers to wear face coverings inside their stores, unless mandated by state or local regulations. READ MORE8:30 a.m. — Officials with the University of Kansas Health System said doctors at the University of Kansas Hospital are currently treating 11 active COVID-19 infections. Of those 11, two patients are in the ICU and both are on a ventilator. In addition, seven more patients remain in the hospital in the recovery phase.8 a.m. — Worlds of Fun will open on Saturday and Oceans of Fun water park will open Memorial Day Weekend, May 29, and the parks will still have enhanced safety protocols in place for all guests and ambassadors. But that’s not the only changes coming to the parks. READ MORE7:30 a.m. — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services announced the state’s total of confirmed COVID-19 cases reached 508,205 on Wednesday, which is an increase of 266 cases. The state also reported there have been 85,778 (+331) possible antigen cases to date.The state said there have now been 8,996 (+6) deaths since the start of the outbreak. The overall seven-day positivity rate for the state is at 3.7%, according to the MDHSS. That number is still down from a high of 23.1% in November.The state said it has administered 4,356,034 vaccine doses, 2,457,442 people have initiated vaccination (or received one dose) and 2,037,856 people have received a second dose. Overall, the state said 40% of the population has received at least one dose and 33.2% have completed vaccination.An estimated 37.8% of Kansas City residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while Jackson County is at 36.7%, Clay County is at 30.8%, Cass County is at 31.1% and Platte County is at 26.5%.[ MISSOURI COVID-19 DASHBOARD]Missouri does not list how many people have recovered from COVID-19.The state reported there have been 1,768 positive cases over the last seven days and an average of 253 cases a day.Looking at local numbers, the DHSS reported 39,245 confirmed cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 32,117 cases in Jackson County. The state also lists 8,355 cases in Clay County, 7,715 in Cass County and 3,318 in Platte County.[ HOW TO GET THE VACCINE IN KANSAS, MISSOURI ][ WHERE WE STAND: MAPS, CHARTS SHOW COVID-19 CASES, VACCINATION RATES ] TUESDAY3:30 p.m. — The Kansas City Royals said Tuesday that Kauffman Stadium will return to full capacity on May 31, and single-game ticket sales for the rest of the season will begin at 10 a.m. Thursday. READ MORENoon — Kansas schools are stepping up efforts to administer COVID-19 vaccines to newly eligible 12-to 15-year-olds as more districts relax mask rules or face pressure to do so.Hundreds of students from public and private schools gathered Monday to get immunized at Topeka High School, The Topeka Capital-Journal reports.“We were surprised that so many people were here,” said Richard Bolejack, as he took his daughter, a freshman at nearby Shawnee Heights High School, to the vaccine clinic. “We were like ‘Wow’ because we didn’t think that would be the case.”The students were joined by Gov. Laura Kelly, who touted the effort as the state aims to increase its vaccination rate. School districts from Manhattan to Olathe are conducting similar clinics, and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Kansas National Guard are chipping in support as needed.But the governor pointed to a statewide drop in demand for the shots, stressing that the next frontier would be making the shots available at doctor’s offices throughout Kansas.“We thought it very important to take the vaccines to the people, rather than expecting them to come to something like this,” Kelly said. “They made it very clear that wasn’t going to happen anymore.”The push comes as more districts nationwide relax mask requirements. Manhattan-Ogden Unified School District 383 announced Monday, for instance, that fully vaccinated individuals would not need to wear masks on school grounds.The Shawnee Mission school district, meanwhile, decided Monday to continue to require students and staff members to wear masks in school until the end of the year despite protests.Kristin Butler, who has two children in the school district, was among about two dozen parents who held signs demonstrating against the mask policy before the decision was made.“I am fighting for my children’s right to breathe in school,” she said. Parent Julia Garrard, however, argued that the mask requirement should remain in place, noting that children like her 11-year-old son Oskar aren’t yet eligible to be vaccinated.“Seems like it’s a no-brainer,” Garrard said. The school district will likely reevaluate its policies ahead of the upcoming school year after seeking guidance from health officials, said spokesperson David Smith.“We’re hopeful maybe this summer, younger kids will be eligible,” Smith said. “Clearly the way to move past the pandemic is to get more and more people vaccinated, including younger children, so we just have to work to get through that.”11 a.m. — Missouri’s third largest city of Springfield is ditching its indoor mask rule but not until summer break begins for the area’s public school students.The Springfield News-Leader reports that the city council voted Monday to drop the requirement after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidance last week that Americans who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 need no longer wear face masks. Springfield-Greene County Acting Health Director Katie Towns said waiting until 11:59 p.m. on May 27 for the change to take effect “will allow children not yet eligible for a vaccine to continue to be protected with masks.”Towns added, “We need to spend these next two weeks working hard to improve our vaccination rates while we wrap up school.”Towns told council that Greene County’s rolling 7-day COVID-19 infection rate has declined 93 percent since its wintertime peak.“These lower numbers give us confidence in our ability to continue to respond to COVID-19,” she said, citing health department efforts such as contact tracing investigations to slow the spread of the disease.Missouri’s major cities and many nearby counties, including Kansas City, St. Louis and St. Louis County, all ended mask mandates on Friday.8:15 a.m. — Officials with the University of Kansas Health System said doctors at the University of Kansas Hospital are currently treating nine active COVID-19 infections. Of those nine, three patients are in the ICU and one is on a ventilator. In addition, 11 more patients remain in the hospital in the recovery phase. 8 a.m. — Hy-Vee – one of the largest supermarket chains in the Midwest – announced Tuesday that it is no longer requiring vaccinated customers or employees to wear masks unless it is locally mandated.“The health and safety of Hy-Vee’s customers and employees have been the company’s top priority since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and the grocer has consistently followed the CDC’s recommendations as guidance is provided,” Hy-Vee said in a news release. READ MORE7:30 a.m. — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services announced the state’s total of confirmed COVID-19 cases reached 507,939 on Tuesday, which is an increase of 259 cases. The state also reported there have been 85,778 (+62) possible antigen cases to date.The state said there have now been 8,990 deaths since the start of the outbreak. The overall seven-day positivity rate for the state is at 3.7%, according to the MDHSS. That number is still down from a high of 23.1% in November.The state said it has administered 4,333,614 vaccine doses, 2,444,026 people have initiated vaccination (or received one dose) and 2,027,709 people have received a second dose. Overall, the state said 39.8% of the population has received at least one dose and 33% have completed vaccination.An estimated 37.5% of Kansas City residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while Jackson County is at 36.4%, Clay County is at 30.6%, Cass County is at 30.9% and Platte County is at 26.3%.[ MISSOURI COVID-19 DASHBOARD]Missouri does not list how many people have recovered from COVID-19.The state reported there have been 1,748 positive cases over the last seven days and an average of 250 cases a day.Looking at local numbers, the DHSS reported 39,218 confirmed cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 32,101 cases in Jackson County. The state also lists 8,350 cases in Clay County, 7,713 in Cass County and 3,315 in Platte County.7 a.m. — Target, Kohl’s, Walmart and Trader Joe’s are among the numerous national stores that have embraced last week’s guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that say fully-vaccinated Americans no longer need to wear masks indoors or out in most situations. Target joined the growing list of retailers ditching mask mandates in their stores on Monday. READ MORE[ HOW TO GET THE VACCINE IN KANSAS, MISSOURI ][ WHERE WE STAND: MAPS, CHARTS SHOW COVID-19 CASES, VACCINATION RATES ] MONDAY3:45 p.m. — The Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health said it will recommend the Douglas County Commission lift all COVID-19 related restrictions, including the county’s mask mandate. Douglas County Commissioners will consider the recommendation as part of their 5:30 p.m. meeting Wednesday. READ MORE1:30 p.m. — The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported an increase of 368 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in its first update since Friday, pushing the statewide total to 312,073 since the outbreak started.KDHE reported two new deaths, making the total since the start of the outbreak 5,040. The state reported hospitalizations increased by 22 to 10,510 since the start of the outbreak.State health officials are now also tracking MIS-C cases in the state, or Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in children, associated with COVID-19. So far, the state notes 14 cases.The overall monthly positivity is at 2.9% for May 2021 to date, slightly down from last month according to the KDHE. That number is still down from a high of 16.5% in November.The state also said it has vaccinated 1,170,811 people, 2,082,658 total doses of the vaccine have been administered and 40.2% of the population has been vaccinated with one dose.[ KANSAS COVID-19 COVID-19 DASHBOARD ]Sedgwick County is the county with the most confirmed COVID-19 cases since the start of the outbreak with 58,838 cases. Johnson County is second with 56,676. Wyandotte County is third with 20,484 cases. Leavenworth County has 7,237 cases, Douglas County reports 8,881 and Miami County has 2,761.Health officials said they’re now monitoring 64 outbreak clusters – up from just 47 at the start of May. A total of 2,580 cases have been attributed to these clusters with 58 hospitalizations and 20 deaths.Noon — As other districts in the area consider stripping mask mandates for the last few weeks of class, the Kansas City, Kansas School District is doubling down with its current guidelines. The district said in a tweet Monday that for the remainder of the academic school year, KCKPS will continue the use of masks for both indoor and outdoor settings. In addition, the mandate will remain in place for all students and staff for all activities through the end of July. READ MORE9 a.m. — It won’t be long now before the school year is out for many kids in the Kansas City area, however, big changes are coming Monday for some of our largest school districts. READ MORE to see how some area districts are making changes. 8:45 a.m. — Target says it is lifting its in-store mask requirement for vaccinated customers and employees, except where it’s required by local ordinances.8:15 a.m. — Officials with the University of Kansas Health System said doctors at the University of Kansas Hospital are currently treating nine active COVID-19 infections. Of those nine, four patients are in the ICU and one is on a ventilator. In addition, 10 more patients remain in the hospital in the recovery phase.7:30 a.m. — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services announced the state’s total of confirmed COVID-19 cases reached 507,680 on Monday, which is an increase of 145 cases. The state also reported there have been 85,778 (+62) possible antigen cases to date.The state said there have now been 8,859 (+0) deaths since the start of the outbreak.The overall seven-day positivity rate for the state is at 3.8%, according to the MDHSS. That number is still down from a high of 23.1% in November.The state said it has administered 4,314,819 vaccine doses, 2,434,492 people have initiated vaccination (or received one dose) and 2,017,682 people have received a second dose. Overall, the state said 39.7% of the population has received at least one dose and 32.9% have completed vaccination.An estimated 37.3% of Kansas City residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while Jackson County is at 36.2%, Clay County is at 30.4%, Cass County is at 30.8% and Platte County is at 26.2%.[ MISSOURI COVID-19 DASHBOARD]Missouri does not list how many people have recovered from COVID-19.The state reported there have been 1,760 positive cases over the last seven days and an average of 251 cases a day.Looking at local numbers, the DHSS reported 39,196 confirmed cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 32,074 cases in Jackson County. The state also lists 8,345 cases in Clay County, 7,705 in Cass County and 3,315 in Platte County.7 a.m. — Children are having their noses swabbed or saliva sampled at school to test for the coronavirus in cities such as Baltimore, New York and Chicago. In other parts of the U.S., school districts are reluctant to check even students showing signs of illness for COVID-19. Education and health officials around the country have taken different approaches to testing students and staff members – and widely varying positions or whether to test them at all as more children give up virtual classrooms for in-person learning. Some states have rejected their share of the billions of dollars the Biden administration made available for conducting virus tests in schools.Officials in districts that have embraced testing describe it as an important tool for making sure schools reopen safely and infections remain under control. They note that the virus might otherwise elude detection since young people with the virus often are asymptomatic and most teachers have been vaccinated.But many school administrators and families, weary of pandemic-related disruptions, see little benefit in screening children, who tend not to become as sick from COVID-19 as adults. Meanwhile, each positive test that turns up at a school can trigger quarantine orders that force students back into learning from home. In Nebraska, Superintendent Bryce Jorgenson said he doubts parents with children in the Southern Valley Public School District would embrace school-based virus tests. His rural, 370-student district eliminated its mandatory mask policy in March.“I can tell you right now, I would say that not just in our district, but in many districts around, there is not an appetite for that at all,” he said of ongoing screening. “I don’t know as a leader, too, if I want to get into testing kids because we don’t test kids for any other virus, really.”Elected officials in Iowa and Idaho made their opinions known by turning down millions in federal aid for voluntary COVID-19 testing in schools. “Here’s your $95 million back,” Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, declared on Fox News after commenting that in her view, President Joe Biden “thinks that COVID just started.” In Idaho, the state House of Representatives rejected $40.3 million in offered funding.“Schools are not medical facilities, and we shouldn’t want to place that responsibility and liability on our schools,” Republican state Rep. Tammy Nichols said in an email. “That is why we have medical facilities and staff who are licensed, certified and insured to handle those things.” Experts are divided about how worthwhile it is to test for the coronavirus inside schools as more people are vaccinated and confirmed cases decline.Joshua Salomon, a professor of medicine at Stanford University who supports screening students, said the procedure could help curb outbreaks involving more contagious variants. “Basically, it gives you an insurance policy against things we may not be able to anticipate,” Salomon said. “The virus has really kind of caught us off guard in a few instances.”But Dr. Monica Gandhi, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said the nation’s vaccination program makes the tests less useful because immunized individuals are so much less likely to get infected. At the same time, she said, false positives in school settings carry significant consequences when they cause a return to online learning. Screening tests have played a key role in reopening plans for schools in New York City and liberal-leaning states like California and Massachusetts. Some districts, like Baltimore City Public Schools, use so-called pooled testing methods that combine multiple samples from students in kindergarten to eighth grade; a positive result leads to everyone in the pool being quarantined. The district is using individual saliva-based PCR tests to screen its high school students..“By doing this screening testing, you can actually catch the cases early, and that is really effective at preventing transmission,” Cleo Hirsch, who oversees the testing in Baltimore’s public schools, said. In Chicago, surveillance testing for COVID-19 was part of the district’s reopening agreement with the teachers union. For elementary students who are at least 10, the district tests a percentage at random, focusing on zip codes with the most confirmed COVID-19 cases. The district tests a sampling of high school students citywide. The tests require parental consent. In Massachusetts, which also relies on pooled testing, the collected data indicates a positivity rate within schools of 2 cases for every 1,000 people, said Russell Johnston, a senior associate commissioner at the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. “That just again gives us enormous confidence in the mitigation strategies that we have available in the schools,” he said. Oregon is beginning to pilot testing of unvaccinated school employees and plans to expand the health surveillance effort to children attending overnight summer camp before deciding how to proceed in the fall. Some school administrators have expressed trepidation about adding surveillance testing, state epidemiologist Dr. Dean Sidelinger said. “COVID has added 12 new challenges every hour for them on top of everything else they were already burdened with,” Sidelinger said. “So many of them just kind of, I think instinctively, said, ’No, you cannot ask us to do another thing.’”In Minnesota, the 8,500-student Edina Public Schools has quarantined hundreds of close contacts of students with positive results. The district began a “Test The Nest” surveillance program at its high school and middle schools in mid-March in an attempt to identify individuals without symptoms who are carrying the virus, spokeswoman Mary Woitte said. But Nicole Schnell, of the group Edina Parents 4 Progress, opposes the expanded testing, saying a single positive case can lead to massive disruptions. Schnell said her daughters, age 15 and 18, spent two weeks quarantined in the fall and another two weeks in the spring despite testing negative because they were considered close contacts of people who were infected. Her 17-year-old son decided to keep attending classes virtually because he didn’t want to risk a potential exposure that might force him to miss the spring baseball season. “I have seen firsthand effects of keeping kids out of society,” Schnell said, adding that one of her children was diagnosed with depression after being quarantined. “We are not just talking about out of school. We are talking about out of any sport that they play, out of any activity, out of anything outside, out of seeing their friends, because of a potential positive exposure.”6 a.m. — The immunologist who leads the COVID-19 response in the United States said Sunday that “the undeniable effects of racism” have led to unacceptable health disparities that especially hurt African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans during the pandemic.“COVID-19 has shone a bright light on our own society’s failings,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said during a graduation ceremony for Emory University.Speaking by webcast from Washington, Fauci told the graduates in Atlanta that many members of minority groups work in essential jobs where they might be exposed to the coronavirus. He also said they are more likely to become infected if exposed because of medical conditions such as hypertension, chronic lung disease, diabetes or obesity.“Now, very few of these comorbidities have racial determinants,” Fauci said. “Almost all relate to the social determinants of health dating back to disadvantageous conditions that some people of color find themselves in from birth regarding the availability of an adequate diet, access to health care and the undeniable effects of racism in our society.”Fauci said correcting societal wrongs will take a commitment of decades, and he urged the graduates to be part of the solution.Fauci said that once society returns to “some form of normality,” people should not forget that infectious disease has disproportionally hospitalized and killed people of color.Fauci on Sunday was awarded the Emory University president’s medal. Previous recipients include former President Jimmy Carter, the Dalai Lama and the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon. In accepting the award, Fauci denounced the destruction of division.“Societal divisiveness is counterproductive in a pandemic,” Fauci said. “We must not be at odds with each other since the virus is the enemy, not each other.”He praised the graduates for handling the profound disruption of the pandemic.“Not since the influenza pandemic of 1918 has humanity faced a public health crisis of this magnitude,” he said. “Each of you deserves enormous respect for your extraordinary adaptability, resilience and dedication to learning, completing your studies and graduating despite immense difficulties and uncertainties.[ HOW TO GET THE VACCINE IN KANSAS, MISSOURI ][ WHERE WE STAND: MAPS, CHARTS SHOW COVID-19 CASES, VACCINATION RATES ] The Associated Press contributed to this story.