Over 130 new COVID-19 cases found in KC metro as rolling average sees slight increase

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The Kansas City metropolitan area added more than 130 new COVID-19 cases and one death Friday as the seven-day rolling average rose slightly.

The area encompassing Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas gained 132 COVID-19 cases for a total of 142,811.

The seven-day rolling average for new cases was 104, according to data maintained by The Star. One week ago, the average was 88 and two weeks ago it was 92.

One death was reported in Wyandotte County, raising the metro’s total to 2,103.

Nine patients were hospitalized for the virus at The University of Kansas Health System, up from eight on Thursday. Four were in the intensive care unit with three on ventilators.

“Hopefully we can either stay steady or decrease through the weekend for those acute infections,” said Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control.

On Friday, Kansas confirmed 304,236 cases including 4,938 deaths. The monthly positive test rate was 2.7%.

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 identified 492,823 cases including 8,510 deaths. The seven-day positive test rate was 4.7%.

The state has administered 2,928,149 doses of the vaccine, with 29.8% of the population initiating vaccination. Missouri has received 4,059,295 doses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Across the country, more than 31 million people have contracted COVID-19 and 560,946 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.