New COVID wave hits Kansas as post-holiday data show worsening pandemic: 'We're just asking for trouble'

All of Kansas continues to experience substantial or high community spread of the coronavirus as public health indicators show a continued worsening of the pandemic.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment on Wednesday reported 8,604 new COVID-19 cases, 200 new hospitalizations and 32 new deaths in the past week.

Weekly case counts have increased four weeks in a row, and both adult and pediatric hospitalizations have been trending upward, the Kansas Hospital Association reports.

In November, KDHE reported 33,834 new cases, 883 new hospitalizations and 283 new deaths. Children accounted for 8,891 new cases, 26 new hospitalizations and one new death.

Vaccination rates marginally increased in the past month, from 53.6% of the entire population with at least one dose to 56.8%, KDHE numbers show. Children aged 5-11 became eligible for vaccination in November, and the age group accounted for more than a third of all newly vaccinated people.

Even so, Kansas ranks below the national average for vaccinating youth, federal data show.

More: Kansas nursing homes with COVID clusters have low staff vaccination rates as vaccine mandates near

Kansas has 157 active outbreaks of COVID-19, down from 170 the day before Thanksgiving.

The holiday coincides with a slight drop in the number of active outbreaks at schools, but schools continue to be the most common cluster location. The 49 active clusters at Kansas schools have been connected to 665 cases and three hospitalizations.

Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities have 39 active clusters, which have led to 32 deaths.

Statewide, a growing percentage of emergency department visits are for COVID-19, KDHE data show. Federal data show the positive test rate is rising in Kansas and is worst among school-aged children.

The health and education experts on the governor's Safer Classrooms Workgroup have long promoted vaccination, masking and testing as the three primary public health tools to keep school open safely.

Data collected by KDHE for the workgroup show that COVID-19 outbreaks are more common at schools that don't require masks, and clusters at those schools infect far more students than clusters at schools where masks are required.

More: Kansas COVID clusters fall: 'When we require masks, we see fewer outbreaks impacting fewer students'

Wednesday's meeting was rescheduled for next week.

Doctors at The University of Kansas Health System have said that, from a medical perspective, students should be wearing masks at schools.

"We're just asking for trouble. ... I expect our numbers to rise," chief medical officer Steve Stites said Monday, urging people to keep wearing masks and get vaccinated.

On Tuesday, Stites and infectious disease specialist Dana Hawkinson said COVID-19 hospitalization numbers are rising at the KU hospitals in Hays and Kansas City, Kan.

"We shouldn't be surprised by that," Stites said Tuesday. "We've watched the virus march across western Kansas, on the heat maps. We know it's been heading this direction. I think we're all concerned."

"The challenge," Stites continued, "has been that the lack of reporting over the holidays makes it especially difficult to know what the numbers are. But hospitalization, those are a real number. I think that jump to 27 (patients hospitalized with the active virus) I think heralds perhaps yet another wave that we have to be thinking about."

Jason Tidd is a statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jtidd@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jason_Tidd.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas doctors urge masking, vaccination as COVID pandemic worsens