Kansas has the second-worst COVID case rate in the U.S., CDC data shows

Michael Stavola
·2 min read

Kansas has the second-worst, seven-day COVID-19 case rate in the U.S., according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

It’s the fourth-worst if you include U.S. territories. Kansas had about 2,554 cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days. The U.S., including territories and jurisdictions, has had 1,322.6 cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days.

Alaska is the worst among the states, with a seven-day case rate of 2,986.4.

The data was last updated Wednesday afternoon.

On Wednesday, using a different measurement, The New York Times reported Kansas as having the highest recent average cases per capita. That measure shows the average cases were more than three times higher than ever before. By Thursday, the Times data showed Alaska as the worst.

The CDC data shows the seven-day moving average of U.S. cases has been dropping for more than a week, but still, throughout January, remains roughly twice as high or higher than ever before. The omicron variant has been blamed for record spikes across the country.

Deaths have been mostly climbing all month.

Kansas data

In Kansas, daily cases, which reached record highs in January, appear to be dropping, according to Kansas Department of Health and Environment data.

Some of the drop could be due to positive tests done at home not being reported to health officials. Earlier this month, President Joe Biden announced the government would spend $1 billion on test kits, allowing each home four free tests.

But daily deaths and hospitalizations (the hospitalizations also reached record levels in January) appear to be dropping as well.

It could be too early to tell whether COVID-19 hospitalizations are trending down, according to Ascension Via Christi Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Sam Antonios. The two largest hospitals in Wichita, Ascension Via Christi and Wesley, reached a record 294 COVID-19 patients during Monday’s weekly report.

During a call Wednesday with hospital officials from around the state, Antonios said the healthcare system was down from its peak.

“Maybe we are at a plateau ... we may have reached the top,” he said, “but we have been proven wrong in the past as well.”

Take a look at a map of COVID cases in Kansas and a regional chart of cases by variant