KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri reported more than 76,000 new COVID-19 cases and Kansas added nearly 39,000 cases in August, the largest surges since before vaccines became widely available.
Missouri also added 1,100 deaths, though not all of the deaths occurred in August. Rather, that’s when the deaths were reported and added to state and local health department dashboards.
The 76,446 new cases are on par with the number of cases reported in January 2021 and represent the third-most new cases for any month during the pandemic, jumping from fewer than 51,000 new cases in July as the delta variant surged through the state.
The number of deaths are the fourth-most, trailing only December 2020 through February 2021, when the pandemic first peaked in the state last winter.
While most of those cases continue to come from metropolitan areas, even Cass County added nearly 1,500 cases and reported 14 deaths in August, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services dashboard.
On the Kansas side, the 38,780 new cases are the fourth-most in any single month, and more than double the roughly 16,300 reported in July.
Other than August, more cases were reported each month in Kansas from November 2020 through January 2021.
Kansas also reported 351 additional deaths last month.
Johnson County topped 70,000 total COVID-19 cases, adding more than 6,500 cases and 55 deaths in August alone, while Wyandotte County reported nearly 3,000 cases and 27 deaths.
Miami County also saw a significant surge with 436 new cases and six deaths last month.
Compared to last August, when Kansas reported a little more than 15,000 new cases and 94 deaths with Missouri reporting nearly 35,000 cases and 335 deaths, cases and deaths in August 2021 were far higher than August 2020, an ominous sign with more children in schools and ahead of another possible winter surge.
