The next few weeks will prove vitally important to how fast or slow COVID-19 spreads throughout Kansas, the state’s top health official said Wednesday.
Days after photos and videos from Lake of the Ozarks in central Missouri showed packed pools and beaches over the Memorial Day weekend, Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Lee Norman said local officials in the state need to closely monitor their hospital bed capacity over the next two to three weeks.
“I was extremely disappointed and frustrated by the photos and videos we saw,” Norman said. “If we see the conduct like we saw at Lake of the Ozarks, we’re going to see an increase, and perhaps a startling increase, in the number of cases.”
Wednesday’s remarks were Norman’s first since Gov. Laura Kelly announced Tuesday that she was vetoing legislation drafted to limit her power to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. The move forced her to withdraw her plan to gradually reopen the state and put the decision-making power in the hands of local officials.
“The Ad Astra plan for reopening is now providing guidance,” Norman said of the governor’s framework, “but I hope it will be seriously looked at and adhered to.”
Now that individual counties are in charge of issuing restrictions to halt the spread of COVID-19, it is more important than ever to continue following sound public health practices, Norman said.
“It has not gone away, and it will not go away if we continue to show laxity in terms of our attention to these public health guidelines,” he said.
The state over the next few weeks is entering “uncharted, experimental waters,” as the data begins to reflect how reopening efforts have impacted the virus in Kansas.
“I predict some counties in Kansas will fare well, and some will fare very poorly,” Norman said. “I don’t like experimenting with people, and I consider this next period of time to be an experiment in disease spread and how it takes further root in our citizenry.”
Norman, Kelly and other top state officials have started looking at how a potential “second wave” of COVID-19 may impact Kansas, he said Wednesday.
But Norman said if residents continue to practice social distancing and wear masks in public, a second wave by no means has to be as severe as the initial spread of the disease, which has so far resulted in 205 deaths and 822 hospitalizations.
“Our numbers in all 3 (Kansas) reopening metrics are improving. If people are diligent those numbers will continue to improve,” Norman said.
“We should not assume that we have to have a second wave, necessarily. It can come in ripples, a big peak, or multiple peaks,” he said. “We don’t have the ability to predict at this time how this second wave will appear.”
Kansas on Wednesday confirmed only 119 new COVID-19 cases since KDHE last released data on Monday, and the state’s cumulative total now sits at 9,337. The state confirmed 17 new deaths since Monday, however Norman said the increase was caused mainly by delayed data reporting in Finney and Wyandotte counties.
KDHE is monitoring 113 outbreaks of COVID-19 that have accounted for 4,883 cases and 138 deaths.
