MISSION, Kan. (AP) — Kansas has reported its first death in a prison coronavirus outbreak and saw the number of positive cases in six meatpacking plants rise to 378 as the state works to reopen its economy.
Dr. Lee Norman, the state’s health director, said most of the infected meat packing workers were asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic. None have died and at most one is hospitalized. Norman also said the number of influenza-like illnesses reported statewide was “dropping like a rock.”
As of Monday, the number of COVID-19 deaths rose by two to 120, and the number of positive cases increased by 154 to 3,328. But Norman said hospitalizations are dropping and that the rise in the number of positive cases is largely the result of the state trying to boost its lowest-in-the nation testing rate.
“We will without question continue to see an uptick in the total number of cases as we do more testing, and that is going to be a challenge in how to communicate that to people,” Norman said. “It is going to look like it is getting worse in the case count but it is not in reality.”
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness and death.
The inmate who died over the weekend at the prison in Lansing, where 64 other inmates and 71 workers are sick, was over the age of 50 and had significant underlying health issues, Norman said.
Gov. Laura Kelly has been under pressure to free inmates to allow for better social distancing. She has said for weeks that efforts are underway to identifying inmates who are close to finishing their sentences who can be freed early.
“I wish it was as easy as opening the door and letting people out,” Kelly said Monday. “It takes a lot longer than we had hoped it would.”
Kelly said she was preparing to make an announcement later this week on both prison releases and her plan for lifting the state’s stay-at-home order, which is set to expire Sunday. She said the reopening effort involves meeting with industry groups, leaders in neighboring states and health officials.
She said the major challenge she has cited in meetings with federal officials is ongoing challenges beefing up testing.
“We are in agreement that we need to work together to increase testing,” she said. “It is the only way that we can safely reopen our economy.”
Dr. Sanmi Areola, director of Johnson County’s Department of Health and Environment, said that while coronavirus testing has increased there in recent weeks, he is not sure the county has enough testing kits yet to last beyond a few weeks. He said the county, which is the largest in the state, is having the same struggles getting testing materials as other communities, with the biggest issue being swabs.
“Once you roll things back, testing becomes even more important,” he said. “That’s how you identify cases. You quickly get in touch with their contacts, and using isolation and quarantine procedures, you minimize the opportunities for others in the community to become infected,” he said.
