Jackson County ends bars, restaurants capacity restrictions. KC area adds 63 new cases

The Kansas City metropolitan area recorded a little more than 60 new COVID-19 cases and one death Saturday the day after Jackson County’s loosened restrictions went into effect.

The area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas gained 63 COVID-19 cases for a total of 142,874.

Wyandotte and Johnson counties do not report new data on weekends.

The seven-day rolling average for new cases was 102. One week ago, the average was 91 and two weeks ago it was 90, according to data maintained by The Star.

Kansas City reported one new death, bringing the metro’s total to 2,104.

On Friday, Jackson County ended its capacity restrictions on all essential and non-essential businesses, restaurants and bars. Masks and social distancing are still required.

Kansas City, along with much of the area, in February rolled back most of its COVID-19 restrictions for bars, restaurants and indoor gatherings. Masks and social distancing rules will still be in place until May 1.

Kansas on Friday confirmed 304,236 cases including 4,938 deaths. The monthly positive test rate was 2.7%, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

The state has distributed 1,984,790 doses of the vaccine. Of those, 1,505,586 doses have been administered, with 33.2% of the population initiating vaccination.

Missouri has recorded 493,249 cases including 8,515 deaths, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. The seven-day positive test rate was 4.7%.

The state has administered 2,990,969 doses of the vaccine, with 30.4% of the population initiating vaccination. As of Friday, Missouri has received 4,059,295 doses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Across the country, more than 31 million people have contracted COVID-19 and 561,074 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.