Kansas City metro area health officials are grappling with how to handle continuing case count increases after reopening businesses more than four months ago. What you need to know:The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said Monday the state has 204,600 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and there have been 2,448 deaths since the outbreak started. Kansas is now only updating COVID-19 data on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said Tuesday there have been 370,439 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the outbreak and 5,158 deaths.TUESDAY3 p.m. — St. Louis-area hospitals continue to be stretched thin while battling the coronavirus pandemic, local health officials announced Tuesday. Bed capacity at hospitals in the St. Louis area is at about 82%, according to the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force. Intensive care units are at 90% capacity. Cases continue to rise in the St. Louis area, and at least another 16 St. Louis County police officers tested positive for the virus in the past week. According to the department, there have been at least 145 confirmed cases at the agency so far this year. Statewide, 17,778 new confirmed cases have been reported in the past week, according to state health department data. That’s about 2,540 new cases a day on average. State health officials on Tuesday urged Missourians, including healthy people, to get tested for the virus. The agency asked those without symptoms to consider getting tested to help stop the virus’ spread through asymptomatic carriers and to prevent unknowingly sickening friends and loved ones over the holidays. The University of Missouri-Columbia on Tuesday also announced most students living on campus must be tested for the virus before moving back after the winter break. Students who recently tested positive won’t need to be retested.2:30 p.m. — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said Tuesday afternoon that more than 23,000 vaccines have been administered to frontline health care workers and nursing home residents and staff according to Phase 1A of Missouri’s Vaccination Plan. Parson said there are over 450,000 Missourians included in Phase 1A, which will take several weeks to complete. State and local governments and health care partners are administering vaccines to those recipients as efficiently as possible. Currently, 285 facilities across the state are approved to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to Phase 1A eligible recipients within their facility. More than 700 additional facilities are expected to be approved within the coming days and weeks. Vaccinators have been approved in all geographic regions of Missouri, and Parson said “more will continue to be brought onboard to ensure vaccines are distributed equitably and efficiently.””The announcement of a second vaccine that is proven to be safe and effective in preventing COVID-19 is great news for the people of Missouri. The approval of an additional vaccine will help us move through the phases of our vaccination plan and offer more vaccines to Missourians, ” Parson said. “While we continue to receive positive news in our fight against COVID-19, I remind Missourians that the virus is still here, and we all must take the necessary precautions to prevent the spread of this virus, especially through the holiday season.”12:30 p.m. — After initially being left off the COVID-19 vaccine distribution list, the Kansas City Veterans Affairs Medical Center received its initial shipment of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday morning.11:45 a.m. – Dr. William Pankey, Vibrant Health Medical Director, becomes the organization’s first COVID-19 vaccine recipient.11 a.m. — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 2,123 new confirmed cases on Tuesday, bringing the state’s total to 370,439 since the pandemic began.There have now been 5,158 deaths linked to COVID-19 in Missouri, which is up 205 from Monday’s reporting. The MSHSS said Monday night that 140 new deaths were discovered after an analysis of death certificates and those numbers were reflected in Tuesday’s totals.[ MISSOURI COVID-19 DASHBOARD]Missouri does not list how many people have recovered from COVID-19.The state said it has tested a total of 3,496,171, and 111,858 were tested in the past seven days. There have been 17,778 positive cases and an average of 2,540 cases a day in the last week.Looking at local numbers, the DHSS reported 28,400 (+394) confirmed cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 21,519 (+357) cases in Jackson County. The state also lists 5,837 (+118) cases in Clay County, 5,008 (+130) in Cass County and 2,128 (+55) in Platte County.9 a.m. — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said late Monday night that it has discovered an additional 140 COVID-19 associated deaths that will be reflected in the state’s disease surveillance system on Tuesday.“This weekly activity has been occurring for several months and typically causes a sharp increase in the deaths added to Missouri’s total the following day,” the MDHSS said in a news release. “As a reminder, not all deaths reported each day occurred in the previous 24 hours. Once DHSS reports a death we have been made aware of, the death is assigned on the date that the death occurred, not when it was reported.” 7 a.m. — The state of Kansas isn’t officially listing the number of people who have recovered from COVID-19, but local health departments across the state are keeping track. According to numbers from Tuesday morning, there have been 137,708 people who have recovered from the coronavirus. This includes 23,012 in Johnson County, 9,409 in Wyandotte County, 4,117 in Leavenworth County, 4,385 in Douglas County and 1,049 in Miami County.[ COVID-19 IN KC: TRACKING CASES, DEATHS AND LATEST RESTRICTIONS ][ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ABOUT THE COVID-19 VACCINE ] MONDAY6:05 p.m. — A Kansas City, Missouri, man is speaking about his participation in a clinical trial for the new Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. “It’s an incredible sign of hope,” said Ben Snider, who volunteered for the trial after seeing a friend post about the opportunity on social media earlier this year. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration gave approval to distribute the Moderna vaccine inside the United States, and Snider spent the week awaiting good news. READ MORE.5:10 p.m. — Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health said it received its allotment of the Moderna vaccine doses Monday from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The doses will be used to vaccinate public health staff and EMS first responders in Douglas County. Health officials said they expect to begin the EMS vaccinations within the next week.3:45 p.m. — Kansas will need far more doses of coronavirus vaccines than it’s set to receive in the coming days to start giving shots to all residents 75 or older, officials at a major health care system said Monday, as the state reported its worst seven-day spike in COVID-19 deaths of the pandemic. READ MORE2:30 p.m. — CVS Health plans to administer about 100,000 coronavirus vaccinations next week at Missouri long-term care facilities as the vaccination rollout expands beyond health care workers, the company said Monday. READ MORE12:30 p.m.– The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported an increase of 4,174 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in its first update since Friday, pushing the statewide total to 204,600 since the outbreak started.KDHE officials said Monday the death total grew by 107 to 2,448 and hospitalizations increased by 92 to 6,267 since the outbreak started.Health officials said Monday that 39% (+7) of ICU beds are available and 76% (+0) of the state’s ventilators are available.The state said it has tested 946,123 people with 741,523 negative test results and an overall monthly positive test rate of 13.8%.[ KANSAS COVID-19 COVID-19 DASHBOARD ]Johnson County has moved back ahead of Sedgwick County for the highest confirmed cases since the start of the outbreak with 35,973. Sedgwick County is second with 35,723 cases. Wyandotte County is third with 14,297 cases. Leavenworth County has 4,761 cases, Douglas County reports 5,700 and Miami County has 1,566. Health officials said the median age of people with COVID-19 is 39, and they are monitoring 443 active outbreak clusters with 210 clusters reported in long-term care facilities.11:30 a.m. — After initially being left off the COVID-19 vaccine distribution list, the Kansas City Veterans Affairs Medical Center announced it will receive an initial shipment of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine as soon as Monday. READ MORE11 a.m. — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 3,130 new confirmed cases on Monday, bringing the state’s total to 368,316 since the pandemic began.There have now been 4,947 deaths linked to COVID-19 in Missouri, which is up 10 from Sunday’s reporting. The state lists 64 deaths in the past week with an average of nine per day.[ MISSOURI COVID-19 DASHBOARD]Missouri does not list how many people have recovered from COVID-19.The state said it has tested a total of 3,482,832, and 107,986 were tested in the past seven days. There have been 17,416 positive cases and an average of 2,488 cases a day in the last week.Looking at local numbers, the DHSS reported 28,006 (+257) confirmed cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 21,519 (+238) cases in Jackson County. The state also lists 5,719 (+75) cases in Clay County, 5,008 (+89) in Cass County and 2,128 (+35) in Platte County.9 a.m. — Health care workers at KC CARE Health Centers in Kansas City, Missouri, started receiving the first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on Friday. CEO Wil Franklin said the side effects he experienced were some soreness on his shoulder, mild fatigue and a wave of emotions. READ MORE7:30 a.m. — Kansas prison officials say a twelfth inmate with COVID-19 has died.The state Corrections Department said Saturday that a 62-year-old man who had been held at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility died Friday. He had been hospitalized with the virus since Nov. 23. Officials said he also had other health concerns that contributed to his condition.The inmate, who was not identified, had been serving a nearly 13-year sentence for aggravated indecent liberties with a child. He had been incarcerated since March 2013. Officials said this was the third COVID-19 related death at the Hutchinson prison. The Reno County Health Department reports 18 active cases of the virus at the prison, and 1,499 inmates have recovered from the virus.7 a.m. — The state of Kansas isn’t officially listing the number of people who have recovered from COVID-19, but local health departments across the state are keeping track. According to numbers from Monday morning, there have been 135,903 people who have recovered from the coronavirus. This includes 22,770 in Johnson County, 9,409 in Wyandotte County, 3,988 in Leavenworth County, 4,385 in Douglas County and 1,049 in Miami County.[ COVID-19 IN KC: TRACKING CASES, DEATHS AND LATEST RESTRICTIONS ][ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ABOUT THE COVID-19 VACCINE ] SUNDAY 11 a.m. — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 2,072 new confirmed cases on Sunday, bringing the state’s total to 365,186 since the pandemic began.There have now been 4,937 deaths linked to COVID-19 in Missouri, which is up 33 from Saturday’s reporting. The state lists 78 deaths in the past week with an average of 11 per day.[ MISSOURI COVID-19 DASHBOARD]Missouri does not list how many people have recovered from COVID-19.The state said it has tested a total of 3,464,447, and 106,645 were tested in the past seven days. There have been 16,995 positive cases and an average of 2,428 cases a day in the last week.Looking at local numbers, the DHSS reported 28,006 (+156) confirmed cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 21,519 (+115) cases in Jackson County. The state also lists 5,719 (+28) cases in Clay County, 5,008 (+52) in Cass County and 2,128 (+10) in Platte County.6 a.m. — A sheriff in a northwestern Kansas county that has been hard-hit by the pandemic has died of the virus. The Gove County Sheriff’s Office described Sheriff Allan Weber as an “extraordinary public servant” in a Facebook post Friday announcing that he had died. He was transported to the Swedish Medical Center in Denver, Colorado, on Oct. 18 for COVID-19 respiratory complications.The county of 2,636 has recorded 18 deaths, for a rate of about 6.82 deaths per 1,000 residents, which is the highest rate in the state. The county’s emergency management director, the hospital CEO and more than 50 medical staff also tested positive. Shortly before Weber was taken to Colorado, he spoke to a reporter with The Associated Press. Occasionally coughing, he said he had been hospitalized in the past for asthma attacks, but the coronavirus symptoms were more pronounced. “You got body aches and headaches. The tightness in my chest is different.”The county commission imposed a mask mandate starting Aug. 6, when only a handful of cases had been reported, but repealed it 11 days later. Officials subsequently issued a new mandate requiring masks. [ COVID-19 IN KC: TRACKING CASES, DEATHS AND LATEST RESTRICTIONS ][ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ABOUT THE COVID-19 VACCINE ] SATURDAY11 a.m. — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 2,784 new confirmed cases on Saturday, bringing the state’s total to 363,114 since the pandemic began.There have now been 4,904 deaths linked to COVID-19 in Missouri, which is up 51 from Friday’s reporting. The state lists 93 deaths in the past week with an average of 13 per day.[ MISSOURI COVID-19 DASHBOARD]Missouri does not list how many people have recovered from COVID-19.The state said it has tested a total of 3,451,230, and 113,451 were tested in the past seven days. There have been 17,824 positive cases and an average of 2,546 cases a day in the last week.Looking at local numbers, the DHSS reported 27,850 (+403) confirmed cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 21,404 (+322) cases in Jackson County. The state also lists 5,719 (+104) cases in Clay County, 5,008 (+73) in Cass County and 2,128 (+60) in Platte County.[ COVID-19 IN KC: TRACKING CASES, DEATHS AND LATEST RESTRICTIONS ][ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ABOUT THE COVID-19 VACCINE ] FRIDAY10 p.m. — John Knox Village is working with CVS to administer the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to 2,300 employees and residents. The details are still being worked out but they expect to start vaccinating within two weeks. READ MORE.5:30 p.m. — We hear a lot about the increased need for food assistance for families struggling during the pandemic. There’s also a surge in the need for diaper donations. The diaper bank Happy Bottoms has made a lot of changes to meet that growing demand. READ MORE.5 p.m. — During the pandemic, restaurants in Missouri have been able to sell cocktails to go thanks to an emergency order. A new bill in the Legislature is hoping to make that permanent. READ MORE.12:45 p.m. — Several investigators have concluded that angry emails about mask requirements that prompted a Kansas mayor to resign did not directly threaten her safety. Dodge City Mayor Joyce Warshaw resigned Tuesday. She said she did not feel safe continuing in the role because of threatening communications she received after she was quoted in a USA Today article supporting the city’s mask mandate in response to the coronavirus pandemic. READ MORE12:30 p.m. — The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported an increase of 5,857 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in its first update since Wednesday, pushing the statewide total to 200,426 since the outbreak started.KDHE officials said Friday the death total grew by 88 to 2,341 and hospitalizations increased by 125 to 6,175 since the outbreak started.Health officials said Friday that 32% of ICU beds are available and 76% of the state’s ventilators are available.The state said it has tested 930,806 people with 730,380 negative test results and an overall monthly positive test rate of 14.2%.[ KANSAS COVID-19 COVID-19 DASHBOARD ]Sedgwick County continues to have the highest confirmed cases since the start of the outbreak with 35,106. Johnson County is second with 36,086 cases. Wyandotte County is third with 14,105 cases. Leavenworth County has 4,698 cases, and Douglas County now reports 5,601. Health officials said the median age of people with COVID-19 is 39, and they are monitoring 443 active outbreak clusters with 210 clusters reported in long-term care facilities.11 a.m. — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 3,723 new confirmed cases on Friday, bringing the state’s total to 360,330 since the pandemic began.There have now been 4,853 deaths linked to COVID-19 in Missouri, which is up 19 from Thursday’s reporting. The state lists 108 deaths in the past week with an average of 15 per day.[ MISSOURI COVID-19 DASHBOARD]Missouri does not list how many people have recovered from COVID-19.The state said it has tested a total of 3,431,791, and 113,140 were tested in the past seven days. There have been 18,170 positive cases and an average of 2,596 cases a day in the last week.Looking at local numbers, the DHSS reported 27,447 (+203) confirmed cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 21,082 (+175) cases in Jackson County. The state also lists 5,615 (+62) cases in Clay County, 4,935 (+134) in Cass County and 2,068 (+35) in Platte County.9:20 a.m. — Doctors with the University of Kansas Health System say the University of Kansas Medical Center is seeing steady COVID-19 numbers.In a video update Thursday morning, officials said the hospital is treating 149 total COVID-19 patients. Of those 149, 78 are acute, or active, infections, with 35 of those patients in the ICU and 26 on ventilators. The other 75 patients are considered to be in recovery. 9 a.m. –Kansas City, Missouri’s top health official said Thursday the city’s mask mandate could last until mid to late summer. Kansas City Health Department Director Dr. Rex Archer told Kansas City City Council the new COVID-19 vaccines are bringing hope for the future, but everyone still needs to continue taking precautions. READ MORE7 a.m. — The state of Kansas isn’t officially listing the number of people who have recovered from COVID-19, but local health departments across the state are keeping track. According to numbers from Friday morning, there have been 132,971 people who have recovered from the coronavirus. This includes 21,587 in Johnson County, 9,409 in Wyandotte County, 3,870 in Leavenworth County, 4,385 in Douglas County and 1,049 in Miami County.6:30 a.m. — Doses from Kansas’ first shipment of a COVID-19 vaccine were arriving Thursday in rural Kansas for hospitals to administer to health care workers, though the state expects its second shipment to be smaller than anticipated.The state has received its full shipment of the first of two doses of a vaccine made by Pfizer for 23,750 people, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The state included nursing home workers and residents with at-risk health care workers in the first group to get the shots, but their vaccinations have not yet started, agency spokeswoman Ashley Jones-Wisner said.Jones-Wisner said the federal government told Kansas it would get a second shipment of 29,000 vaccine doses next week, but the state has since learned it will receive 17,550 doses instead. She did not elaborate.Still, hospitals across the state were receiving at least a few doses from the first shipment, including in Cheyenne and Sherman counties in northwest Kansas, where there has been one confirmed or probable case for every 11 residents. Health care workers in Wichita, the state’s largest city, received their first shots Monday. “There’s a lot of joy out there as it’s arriving,” said Cindy Samuelson, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Hospital Association. “It’s a layer of hope, which I think is much needed this year.”In south-central Kansas, the Hutchinson Regional Medical Center picked intensive care unit nurse Kristy Sourk to be the first to get a shot Wednesday afternoon after she answered a survey describing her potential risk of getting the novel coronavirus. Sourk described herself as “ecstatic.” Her husband, a pulmonologist, got the second shot. The hospital’s 14 ICU beds are filled mostly with COVID-19 patients.“It is like getting a dream come true. It is like you can’t even believe it is happening,” she said Thursday in an interview. “And I felt so blessed, just had so much gratitude to be able to get this vaccination.”Dr. Beth Oller, a family physician in Rooks County in northwest Kansas, said some health care workers — like other residents in her county of about 5,000 — were wary of getting a shot. She said some of them worried that work on vaccines had been rushed.A self-described “science geek,” she said she has no qualms about the vaccine’s safety or effectiveness and planned to get her shot Friday morning. Her husband, her in-laws and likely three of her children had COVID-19 over Thanksgiving, though she didn’t get infected. She said she’s not worried about potential side effects from the vaccine.Oller said coronavirus patients she has treated, even younger ones, have suffered from headaches, brain fogs, and fatigue serious enough to require daily naps even after testing negative again.“Anything I can take to help prevent that — sign me up, even if it gives me a headache and a mild fever,” she said.It is likely to be months before vaccines are available to everyone, with the state expecting not to give shots to all adults who want them until at least late spring.The state averaged nearly 2,400 new confirmed or probable coronavirus cases, 54 new hospitalizations and 33 deaths a day from Nov. 16 through Wednesday. It reported nearly 195,000 cases for the pandemic, or one for every 15 of its 2.9 million residents, and 2,253 deaths as of Wednesday.“There’s still widespread community dissemination on COVID-19,” said Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer at the University of Kansas Health System.6 a.m. — Several states — including Kansas and Missouri — say they have been told to expect far fewer doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in its second week of distribution, prompting worries about potential delays in shots for health care workers and long-term care residents.But senior Trump administration officials on Thursday downplayed the risk of delays, citing a confusion over semantics, while Pfizer said its production levels have not changed.The first U.S. doses were administered Monday, and already this week, hundreds of thousands of people, mostly health care workers, have been vaccinated. The pace is expected to increase next week, assuming Moderna gets federal authorization for its vaccine.Efforts to help ward off the coronavirus come amid a staggering death toll that surpassed 300,000 on Monday. Johns Hopkins University says about 2,400 people are dying daily in the U.S., which is averaging more than 210,000 cases per day.In recent days, governors and health leaders in more than a dozen states have said the federal government has told them that next week’s shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be less than originally projected.Little explanation was offered, leaving many state officials perplexed.“This is disruptive and frustrating,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, wrote on Twitter Thursday after learning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the state’s allocation would be cut by 40%. “We need accurate, predictable numbers to plan and ensure on-the-ground success.”California, where an explosion in cases is straining intensive care units to the breaking point, will receive 160,000 fewer vaccine doses than state officials had anticipated next week — a roughly 40% reduction.California hospitals began vaccinations this week from the first Pfizer shipment of 327,000 doses and had expected even more to arrive next week. Instead, officials have been told to expect about 233,000 doses, said Erin Mellon, a spokeswoman for Gov. Gavin Newsom. Missouri’s health director, Dr. Randall Williams, said his state will get 25% to 30% less of the vaccine next week than anticipated. A statement from the Iowa Department of Public Health said its allocation will be “reduced by as much as 30%, however we are working to gain confirmation and additional details from our federal partners.”Michigan’s shipment will drop by about a quarter. Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire and Indiana also have been told to expect smaller shipments.“States need clear and precise updates and information from the federal government as we continue the large and complex process of distributing this critical COVID-19 vaccine across the nation and here in Nevada,” the state’s Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak, said in a statement after his state’s second allocation was cut 42% to 17,550 doses. “To slash allocations for states – without any explanation whatsoever – is disruptive and baffling.” Hawaii’s health department said as much as 40% of its doses will be delayed, but it still expects to receive nearly 46,000 doses by the end of the month.Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday said Georgia is in line to receive 60,000 doses next week after initially expecting 99,000. Still, the Republican governor has had little but praise for the vaccination effort and did not strongly object to the decreased amount.“I wish it were a lot more, but it could be zero right now if you look at the past history of vaccines,” Kemp said.In Washington, D.C., two senior Trump administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning said states will receive their full allocations, but misunderstandings about vaccine supply and changes to the delivery schedule may be creating confusion.[ COVID-19 IN KC: TRACKING CASES, DEATHS AND LATEST RESTRICTIONS ][ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ABOUT THE COVID-19 VACCINE ] The Associated Press contributed to this story.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. —
Kansas City metro area health officials are grappling with how to handle continuing case count increases after reopening businesses more than four months ago.
What you need to know:
- The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said Monday the state has 204,600 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and there have been 2,448 deaths since the outbreak started. Kansas is now only updating COVID-19 data on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
- The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said Tuesday there have been 370,439 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the outbreak and 5,158 deaths.
TUESDAY
3 p.m. — St. Louis-area hospitals continue to be stretched thin while battling the coronavirus pandemic, local health officials announced Tuesday.
Bed capacity at hospitals in the St. Louis area is at about 82%, according to the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force. Intensive care units are at 90% capacity.
Cases continue to rise in the St. Louis area, and at least another 16 St. Louis County police officers tested positive for the virus in the past week. According to the department, there have been at least 145 confirmed cases at the agency so far this year.
Statewide, 17,778 new confirmed cases have been reported in the past week, according to state health department data. That’s about 2,540 new cases a day on average.
State health officials on Tuesday urged Missourians, including healthy people, to get tested for the virus. The agency asked those without symptoms to consider getting tested to help stop the virus’ spread through asymptomatic carriers and to prevent unknowingly sickening friends and loved ones over the holidays.
The University of Missouri-Columbia on Tuesday also announced most students living on campus must be tested for the virus before moving back after the winter break. Students who recently tested positive won’t need to be retested.
2:30 p.m. — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said Tuesday afternoon that more than 23,000 vaccines have been administered to frontline health care workers and nursing home residents and staff according to Phase 1A of Missouri’s Vaccination Plan.
Parson said there are over 450,000 Missourians included in Phase 1A, which will take several weeks to complete. State and local governments and health care partners are administering vaccines to those recipients as efficiently as possible.
Currently, 285 facilities across the state are approved to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to Phase 1A eligible recipients within their facility. More than 700 additional facilities are expected to be approved within the coming days and weeks. Vaccinators have been approved in all geographic regions of Missouri, and Parson said “more will continue to be brought onboard to ensure vaccines are distributed equitably and efficiently.”
“The announcement of a second vaccine that is proven to be safe and effective in preventing COVID-19 is great news for the people of Missouri. The approval of an additional vaccine will help us move through the phases of our vaccination plan and offer more vaccines to Missourians, ” Parson said. “While we continue to receive positive news in our fight against COVID-19, I remind Missourians that the virus is still here, and we all must take the necessary precautions to prevent the spread of this virus, especially through the holiday season.”
12:30 p.m. — After initially being left off the COVID-19 vaccine distribution list, the Kansas City Veterans Affairs Medical Center received its initial shipment of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday morning.
11:45 a.m. – Dr. William Pankey, Vibrant Health Medical Director, becomes the organization’s first COVID-19 vaccine recipient.
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11 a.m. — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 2,123 new confirmed cases on Tuesday, bringing the state’s total to 370,439 since the pandemic began.
There have now been 5,158 deaths linked to COVID-19 in Missouri, which is up 205 from Monday’s reporting. The MSHSS said Monday night that 140 new deaths were discovered after an analysis of death certificates and those numbers were reflected in Tuesday’s totals.
[ MISSOURI COVID-19 DASHBOARD]
Missouri does not list how many people have recovered from COVID-19.
The state said it has tested a total of 3,496,171, and 111,858 were tested in the past seven days. There have been 17,778 positive cases and an average of 2,540 cases a day in the last week.
Looking at local numbers, the DHSS reported 28,400 (+394) confirmed cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 21,519 (+357) cases in Jackson County. The state also lists 5,837 (+118) cases in Clay County, 5,008 (+130) in Cass County and 2,128 (+55) in Platte County.
9 a.m. — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said late Monday night that it has discovered an additional 140 COVID-19 associated deaths that will be reflected in the state’s disease surveillance system on Tuesday.
“This weekly activity has been occurring for several months and typically causes a sharp increase in the deaths added to Missouri’s total the following day,” the MDHSS said in a news release. “As a reminder, not all deaths reported each day occurred in the previous 24 hours. Once DHSS reports a death we have been made aware of, the death is assigned on the date that the death occurred, not when it was reported.”
7 a.m. — The state of Kansas isn’t officially listing the number of people who have recovered from COVID-19, but local health departments across the state are keeping track.
According to numbers from Tuesday morning, there have been 137,708 people who have recovered from the coronavirus.
This includes 23,012 in Johnson County, 9,409 in Wyandotte County, 4,117 in Leavenworth County, 4,385 in Douglas County and 1,049 in Miami County.
[ COVID-19 IN KC: TRACKING CASES, DEATHS AND LATEST RESTRICTIONS ]
[ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ABOUT THE COVID-19 VACCINE ]
MONDAY
6:05 p.m. — A Kansas City, Missouri, man is speaking about his participation in a clinical trial for the new Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. “It’s an incredible sign of hope,” said Ben Snider, who volunteered for the trial after seeing a friend post about the opportunity on social media earlier this year. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration gave approval to distribute the Moderna vaccine inside the United States, and Snider spent the week awaiting good news. READ MORE.
5:10 p.m. — Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health said it received its allotment of the Moderna vaccine doses Monday from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The doses will be used to vaccinate public health staff and EMS first responders in Douglas County. Health officials said they expect to begin the EMS vaccinations within the next week.
3:45 p.m. — Kansas will need far more doses of coronavirus vaccines than it’s set to receive in the coming days to start giving shots to all residents 75 or older, officials at a major health care system said Monday, as the state reported its worst seven-day spike in COVID-19 deaths of the pandemic. READ MORE
2:30 p.m. — CVS Health plans to administer about 100,000 coronavirus vaccinations next week at Missouri long-term care facilities as the vaccination rollout expands beyond health care workers, the company said Monday. READ MORE
12:30 p.m.— The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported an increase of 4,174 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in its first update since Friday, pushing the statewide total to 204,600 since the outbreak started.
KDHE officials said Monday the death total grew by 107 to 2,448 and hospitalizations increased by 92 to 6,267 since the outbreak started.
Health officials said Monday that 39% (+7) of ICU beds are available and 76% (+0) of the state’s ventilators are available.
The state said it has tested 946,123 people with 741,523 negative test results and an overall monthly positive test rate of 13.8%.
[ KANSAS COVID-19 COVID-19 DASHBOARD ]
Johnson County has moved back ahead of Sedgwick County for the highest confirmed cases since the start of the outbreak with 35,973. Sedgwick County is second with 35,723 cases. Wyandotte County is third with 14,297 cases. Leavenworth County has 4,761 cases, Douglas County reports 5,700 and Miami County has 1,566.
Health officials said the median age of people with COVID-19 is 39, and they are monitoring 443 active outbreak clusters with 210 clusters reported in long-term care facilities.
11:30 a.m. — After initially being left off the COVID-19 vaccine distribution list, the Kansas City Veterans Affairs Medical Center announced it will receive an initial shipment of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine as soon as Monday. READ MORE
11 a.m. — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 3,130 new confirmed cases on Monday, bringing the state’s total to 368,316 since the pandemic began.
There have now been 4,947 deaths linked to COVID-19 in Missouri, which is up 10 from Sunday’s reporting. The state lists 64 deaths in the past week with an average of nine per day.
[ MISSOURI COVID-19 DASHBOARD]
Missouri does not list how many people have recovered from COVID-19.
The state said it has tested a total of 3,482,832, and 107,986 were tested in the past seven days. There have been 17,416 positive cases and an average of 2,488 cases a day in the last week.
Looking at local numbers, the DHSS reported 28,006 (+257) confirmed cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 21,519 (+238) cases in Jackson County. The state also lists 5,719 (+75) cases in Clay County, 5,008 (+89) in Cass County and 2,128 (+35) in Platte County.
9 a.m. — Health care workers at KC CARE Health Centers in Kansas City, Missouri, started receiving the first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on Friday. CEO Wil Franklin said the side effects he experienced were some soreness on his shoulder, mild fatigue and a wave of emotions. READ MORE
7:30 a.m. — Kansas prison officials say a twelfth inmate with COVID-19 has died.
The state Corrections Department said Saturday that a 62-year-old man who had been held at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility died Friday. He had been hospitalized with the virus since Nov. 23. Officials said he also had other health concerns that contributed to his condition.
The inmate, who was not identified, had been serving a nearly 13-year sentence for aggravated indecent liberties with a child. He had been incarcerated since March 2013.
Officials said this was the third COVID-19 related death at the Hutchinson prison. The Reno County Health Department reports 18 active cases of the virus at the prison, and 1,499 inmates have recovered from the virus.
7 a.m. — The state of Kansas isn’t officially listing the number of people who have recovered from COVID-19, but local health departments across the state are keeping track.
According to numbers from Monday morning, there have been 135,903 people who have recovered from the coronavirus.
This includes 22,770 in Johnson County, 9,409 in Wyandotte County, 3,988 in Leavenworth County, 4,385 in Douglas County and 1,049 in Miami County.
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SUNDAY
11 a.m. — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 2,072 new confirmed cases on Sunday, bringing the state’s total to 365,186 since the pandemic began.
There have now been 4,937 deaths linked to COVID-19 in Missouri, which is up 33 from Saturday’s reporting. The state lists 78 deaths in the past week with an average of 11 per day.
[ MISSOURI COVID-19 DASHBOARD]
Missouri does not list how many people have recovered from COVID-19.
The state said it has tested a total of 3,464,447, and 106,645 were tested in the past seven days. There have been 16,995 positive cases and an average of 2,428 cases a day in the last week.
Looking at local numbers, the DHSS reported 28,006 (+156) confirmed cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 21,519 (+115) cases in Jackson County. The state also lists 5,719 (+28) cases in Clay County, 5,008 (+52) in Cass County and 2,128 (+10) in Platte County.
6 a.m. — A sheriff in a northwestern Kansas county that has been hard-hit by the pandemic has died of the virus.
The Gove County Sheriff’s Office described Sheriff Allan Weber as an “extraordinary public servant” in a Facebook post Friday announcing that he had died. He was transported to the Swedish Medical Center in Denver, Colorado, on Oct. 18 for COVID-19 respiratory complications.
The county of 2,636 has recorded 18 deaths, for a rate of about 6.82 deaths per 1,000 residents, which is the highest rate in the state. The county’s emergency management director, the hospital CEO and more than 50 medical staff also tested positive.
Shortly before Weber was taken to Colorado, he spoke to a reporter with The Associated Press. Occasionally coughing, he said he had been hospitalized in the past for asthma attacks, but the coronavirus symptoms were more pronounced. “You got body aches and headaches. The tightness in my chest is different.”
The county commission imposed a mask mandate starting Aug. 6, when only a handful of cases had been reported, but repealed it 11 days later. Officials subsequently issued a new mandate requiring masks.
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SATURDAY
11 a.m. — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 2,784 new confirmed cases on Saturday, bringing the state’s total to 363,114 since the pandemic began.
There have now been 4,904 deaths linked to COVID-19 in Missouri, which is up 51 from Friday’s reporting. The state lists 93 deaths in the past week with an average of 13 per day.
[ MISSOURI COVID-19 DASHBOARD]
Missouri does not list how many people have recovered from COVID-19.
The state said it has tested a total of 3,451,230, and 113,451 were tested in the past seven days. There have been 17,824 positive cases and an average of 2,546 cases a day in the last week.
Looking at local numbers, the DHSS reported 27,850 (+403) confirmed cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 21,404 (+322) cases in Jackson County. The state also lists 5,719 (+104) cases in Clay County, 5,008 (+73) in Cass County and 2,128 (+60) in Platte County.
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FRIDAY
10 p.m. — John Knox Village is working with CVS to administer the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to 2,300 employees and residents. The details are still being worked out but they expect to start vaccinating within two weeks. READ MORE.
5:30 p.m. — We hear a lot about the increased need for food assistance for families struggling during the pandemic. There’s also a surge in the need for diaper donations. The diaper bank Happy Bottoms has made a lot of changes to meet that growing demand. READ MORE.
5 p.m. — During the pandemic, restaurants in Missouri have been able to sell cocktails to go thanks to an emergency order. A new bill in the Legislature is hoping to make that permanent. READ MORE.
12:45 p.m. — Several investigators have concluded that angry emails about mask requirements that prompted a Kansas mayor to resign did not directly threaten her safety.
Dodge City Mayor Joyce Warshaw resigned Tuesday. She said she did not feel safe continuing in the role because of threatening communications she received after she was quoted in a USA Today article supporting the city’s mask mandate in response to the coronavirus pandemic. READ MORE
12:30 p.m. — The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported an increase of 5,857 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in its first update since Wednesday, pushing the statewide total to 200,426 since the outbreak started.
KDHE officials said Friday the death total grew by 88 to 2,341 and hospitalizations increased by 125 to 6,175 since the outbreak started.
Health officials said Friday that 32% of ICU beds are available and 76% of the state’s ventilators are available.
The state said it has tested 930,806 people with 730,380 negative test results and an overall monthly positive test rate of 14.2%.
[ KANSAS COVID-19 COVID-19 DASHBOARD ]
Sedgwick County continues to have the highest confirmed cases since the start of the outbreak with 35,106. Johnson County is second with 36,086 cases. Wyandotte County is third with 14,105 cases. Leavenworth County has 4,698 cases, and Douglas County now reports 5,601.
Health officials said the median age of people with COVID-19 is 39, and they are monitoring 443 active outbreak clusters with 210 clusters reported in long-term care facilities.
11 a.m. — The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 3,723 new confirmed cases on Friday, bringing the state’s total to 360,330 since the pandemic began.
There have now been 4,853 deaths linked to COVID-19 in Missouri, which is up 19 from Thursday’s reporting. The state lists 108 deaths in the past week with an average of 15 per day.
[ MISSOURI COVID-19 DASHBOARD]
Missouri does not list how many people have recovered from COVID-19.
The state said it has tested a total of 3,431,791, and 113,140 were tested in the past seven days. There have been 18,170 positive cases and an average of 2,596 cases a day in the last week.
Looking at local numbers, the DHSS reported 27,447 (+203) confirmed cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 21,082 (+175) cases in Jackson County. The state also lists 5,615 (+62) cases in Clay County, 4,935 (+134) in Cass County and 2,068 (+35) in Platte County.
9:20 a.m. — Doctors with the University of Kansas Health System say the University of Kansas Medical Center is seeing steady COVID-19 numbers.
In a video update Thursday morning, officials said the hospital is treating 149 total COVID-19 patients. Of those 149, 78 are acute, or active, infections, with 35 of those patients in the ICU and 26 on ventilators. The other 75 patients are considered to be in recovery.
9 a.m. —Kansas City, Missouri’s top health official said Thursday the city’s mask mandate could last until mid to late summer. Kansas City Health Department Director Dr. Rex Archer told Kansas City City Council the new COVID-19 vaccines are bringing hope for the future, but everyone still needs to continue taking precautions. READ MORE
7 a.m. — The state of Kansas isn’t officially listing the number of people who have recovered from COVID-19, but local health departments across the state are keeping track.
According to numbers from Friday morning, there have been 132,971 people who have recovered from the coronavirus.
This includes 21,587 in Johnson County, 9,409 in Wyandotte County, 3,870 in Leavenworth County, 4,385 in Douglas County and 1,049 in Miami County.
6:30 a.m. — Doses from Kansas’ first shipment of a COVID-19 vaccine were arriving Thursday in rural Kansas for hospitals to administer to health care workers, though the state expects its second shipment to be smaller than anticipated.
The state has received its full shipment of the first of two doses of a vaccine made by Pfizer for 23,750 people, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The state included nursing home workers and residents with at-risk health care workers in the first group to get the shots, but their vaccinations have not yet started, agency spokeswoman Ashley Jones-Wisner said.
Jones-Wisner said the federal government told Kansas it would get a second shipment of 29,000 vaccine doses next week, but the state has since learned it will receive 17,550 doses instead. She did not elaborate.
Still, hospitals across the state were receiving at least a few doses from the first shipment, including in Cheyenne and Sherman counties in northwest Kansas, where there has been one confirmed or probable case for every 11 residents. Health care workers in Wichita, the state’s largest city, received their first shots Monday.
“There’s a lot of joy out there as it’s arriving,” said Cindy Samuelson, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Hospital Association. “It’s a layer of hope, which I think is much needed this year.”
In south-central Kansas, the Hutchinson Regional Medical Center picked intensive care unit nurse Kristy Sourk to be the first to get a shot Wednesday afternoon after she answered a survey describing her potential risk of getting the novel coronavirus. Sourk described herself as “ecstatic.” Her husband, a pulmonologist, got the second shot. The hospital’s 14 ICU beds are filled mostly with COVID-19 patients.
“It is like getting a dream come true. It is like you can’t even believe it is happening,” she said Thursday in an interview. “And I felt so blessed, just had so much gratitude to be able to get this vaccination.”
Dr. Beth Oller, a family physician in Rooks County in northwest Kansas, said some health care workers — like other residents in her county of about 5,000 — were wary of getting a shot. She said some of them worried that work on vaccines had been rushed.
A self-described “science geek,” she said she has no qualms about the vaccine’s safety or effectiveness and planned to get her shot Friday morning. Her husband, her in-laws and likely three of her children had COVID-19 over Thanksgiving, though she didn’t get infected. She said she’s not worried about potential side effects from the vaccine.
Oller said coronavirus patients she has treated, even younger ones, have suffered from headaches, brain fogs, and fatigue serious enough to require daily naps even after testing negative again.
“Anything I can take to help prevent that — sign me up, even if it gives me a headache and a mild fever,” she said.
It is likely to be months before vaccines are available to everyone, with the state expecting not to give shots to all adults who want them until at least late spring.
The state averaged nearly 2,400 new confirmed or probable coronavirus cases, 54 new hospitalizations and 33 deaths a day from Nov. 16 through Wednesday. It reported nearly 195,000 cases for the pandemic, or one for every 15 of its 2.9 million residents, and 2,253 deaths as of Wednesday.
“There’s still widespread community dissemination on COVID-19,” said Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer at the University of Kansas Health System.
6 a.m. — Several states — including Kansas and Missouri — say they have been told to expect far fewer doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in its second week of distribution, prompting worries about potential delays in shots for health care workers and long-term care residents.
But senior Trump administration officials on Thursday downplayed the risk of delays, citing a confusion over semantics, while Pfizer said its production levels have not changed.
The first U.S. doses were administered Monday, and already this week, hundreds of thousands of people, mostly health care workers, have been vaccinated. The pace is expected to increase next week, assuming Moderna gets federal authorization for its vaccine.
Efforts to help ward off the coronavirus come amid a staggering death toll that surpassed 300,000 on Monday. Johns Hopkins University says about 2,400 people are dying daily in the U.S., which is averaging more than 210,000 cases per day.
In recent days, governors and health leaders in more than a dozen states have said the federal government has told them that next week’s shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be less than originally projected.
Little explanation was offered, leaving many state officials perplexed.
“This is disruptive and frustrating,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, wrote on Twitter Thursday after learning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the state’s allocation would be cut by 40%. “We need accurate, predictable numbers to plan and ensure on-the-ground success.”
California, where an explosion in cases is straining intensive care units to the breaking point, will receive 160,000 fewer vaccine doses than state officials had anticipated next week — a roughly 40% reduction.
California hospitals began vaccinations this week from the first Pfizer shipment of 327,000 doses and had expected even more to arrive next week. Instead, officials have been told to expect about 233,000 doses, said Erin Mellon, a spokeswoman for Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Missouri’s health director, Dr. Randall Williams, said his state will get 25% to 30% less of the vaccine next week than anticipated. A statement from the Iowa Department of Public Health said its allocation will be “reduced by as much as 30%, however we are working to gain confirmation and additional details from our federal partners.”
Michigan’s shipment will drop by about a quarter. Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire and Indiana also have been told to expect smaller shipments.
“States need clear and precise updates and information from the federal government as we continue the large and complex process of distributing this critical COVID-19 vaccine across the nation and here in Nevada,” the state’s Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak, said in a statement after his state’s second allocation was cut 42% to 17,550 doses. “To slash allocations for states – without any explanation whatsoever – is disruptive and baffling.”
Hawaii’s health department said as much as 40% of its doses will be delayed, but it still expects to receive nearly 46,000 doses by the end of the month.
Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday said Georgia is in line to receive 60,000 doses next week after initially expecting 99,000. Still, the Republican governor has had little but praise for the vaccination effort and did not strongly object to the decreased amount.
“I wish it were a lot more, but it could be zero right now if you look at the past history of vaccines,” Kemp said.
In Washington, D.C., two senior Trump administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning said states will receive their full allocations, but misunderstandings about vaccine supply and changes to the delivery schedule may be creating confusion.
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The Associated Press contributed to this story.