KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas ranks 16th in the nation for the number of coronavirus cases in a state, Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Dr. Lee Norman said Wednesday.
Norman said his department is using analytics coming down from the White House to draw comparisons with other states.
With more than 40,000 COVID-19 cases in the state as of Wednesday, according to 41 Action News data analysis, Kansas’ case rate has risen above 100 cases per 100,000 per week.
In addition to being in the top third tier of states in terms of case numbers, Kansas has the sixth-highest case positivity rate in the United States, Norman said.
The nation’s average positivity rate sits at 5.8 percent, while Kansas’ is 10.3 percent.
Norman said 30 percent of Kansas’ counties are in the “red” or “yellow” zones for community spread, and COVID-19 has reached all 105 counties in the state.
The good news, Norman said, is the state continues to increase its testing capacity and exceed the number of tests recommended by the White House coronavirus task force.
Norman said the analytics show him Kansas has “a lot of work to do to push down the cases.”
The top health official also noted concerns about hospital capacity as flu season approaches.
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