COVID-19 activity, particularly in the southern and western U.S., is increasing, but so far Kansas City case numbers have stayed fairly low and consistent, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Still, a surge could be around the corner.
Jackson County Public Health Assistant Director Ray Dlogolecki said people should not assume Kansas City is somehow “immune from national trends,” even if overall activity is still very low.
“We may simply be seeing a lag, different timing in transmission or enough prior immunity to blunt a noticeable surge,” he said. “The important thing is to watch multiple indicators — emergency department visits, wastewater monitoring, hospitalizations and testing — rather than waiting for one number to suddenly jump.”
Johnson County Health Director Charlie Hunt is already taking note of some small red flags in Johnson County wastewater.
“We have seen a little bit of an uptick in our wastewater surveillance for COVID-19 over the last few weeks,” he said. “We've also seen a little bit of an uptick in hospital emergency department visits for COVID-19 as well.”
Hunt added that only a small portion of sick people go to the hospital — usually the sickest. Many others might not report their condition.
Case counts for other respiratory illnesses, like RSV and flu, also remain low across Kansas City. That’s normal for this time of year, as those tend to climb starting in October, with peaks in November and December.
Still, illness always circulates, which public health departments ask parents to keep in mind as they send their kids back to school. The Kansas City Health Department hopes to make it easier for parents to track what’s moving through the area with a new communicable disease dashboard.
“At a time like this, residents want to know the status of their community’s health, and they want to know that they can trust what is presented to them,” said Kansas City Health Director Dr. Marvia Jones.
People can also get ahead of a bad infection by getting vaccinated, said Dr. Dana Hawkinson, director of infection prevention and control for the University of Kansas Health System. Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration signed off on updated COVID-19 vaccines for adults 65 and older and anyone ages 5 to 64 with a condition that raises the risk of severe illness.
The Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine targets the XFG variant as well as other currently circulating variants.
“There is good data to support the fact that both influenza and COVID vaccines do help reduce people's need to go to seek medical care, whether at urgent care or the emergency department or to be hospitalized,” Hawkinson said.
