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Kansas City metro tops another milestone as new COVID cases continue downward trend

The Kansas City metro area shot past yet another milestone this week as the number of people who contracted COVID-19 topped 200,000 cases.

On Tuesday, the area encompassing Johnson and Wyandotte County in Kansas and Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri gained 201 new cases for a total of 200,306 to date.

The seven-day rolling average for daily cases fell to 231, according to data tracked by The Star. One week ago, the average was 266. One month ago, it was at 467.

Over the past week, the metro added 1,614 more cases. During the previous week, the area gained 1,863 new cases and the week before, 2,326 were identified.

The metro has recorded a total of 3,056 deaths since the pandemic began.

The University of Kansas Health System reported a slight drop in the number of COVID patients Tuesday. Twenty patients were hospitalized with the active virus, down from 22 on Monday. Seven of those patients were in the ICU with two on ventilators.

Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control, said from a medical point of view, letting mask mandates expire with so many unvaccinated people will help spread COVID, according to a release from the health system.

It’s too soon to tell if people need to worry about another uptick in COVID numbers, he said. The best indicator is the seven to 10 day average, which is trending lower.

The Prairie Village City Council on Monday decided against prolonging its citywide mask mandate, letting it expire at midnight Oct. 31. Meanwhile, the Roeland Park City Council decided to extend its mask order until Nov. 16.

As of Tuesday, Kansas has reported 424,802 total cases including 6,170 deaths. The monthly positive test rate was 7.6%. Fifty percent of state’s population has been fully vaccinated.

Missouri identified 693,983 total cases including 11,920 deaths. The seven-day positive test rate was 7.2%. In Missouri, 48.8% of the population has been fully vaccinated.

Across the country, about 45.1 million people have contracted COVID-19 and 726,919 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.