Published on September 10, 2021
On Thursday evening, September 9, the Unified Government Commission voted to extend its previous mask order for Kansas City, Kansas and the unincorporated area of Loring in Wyandotte County through 11:59 pm on November 18, 2021. This extends the original expiration date by two months.
The resolution extending the mask order will be signed into effect by the Wyandotte County Clerk later today. The proposed resolution to extend the mask order, as reviewed and adopted by the UG Commission last night, can be viewed here.
See original mask order (Resolution No. R-47-21) here.
The UG Commission did not amend the mask requirements or exemptions from the original order. Masks will continue to be required in indoor public spaces for people who are vaccinated and people who are unvaccinated. The order excludes public and private schools and also excludes the cities of Bonner Springs and Edwardsville, Kansas. When adopting the original order on August 5, 2021, the UG Commissioners opted to leave the decision of mask requirements to school boards and to Bonner Springs and Edwardsville elected officials, respectively.
At a Special Session of the Unified Government Board of Commissioners last night, the Unified Government Public Health Department (UGPHD) Deputy Health Officer, Dr. Erin Corriveau, presented current COVID-19 data to the UG Commission. At the following Fully Commission meeting, the Commission heard brief remarks from the UG Legal Department, as well as public comments, before voting 10-0 in favor of extending the mask order.
Some statistics about the current status of COVID-19 in Wyandotte County include:
The 7-day rolling average of cases per day is 63 new cases per day.
The highly transmissible Delta variant continues to spread in Wyandotte County. In August and so far in September, all of the Wyandotte County COVID-19 cases sequenced by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to check for variants were confirmed as the Delta variant.
The positivity rate (a 7-day rolling average of positive test percentages) is 19%.
The majority of people living in Wyandotte County are not vaccinated, with 47% who have received at least one dose, and 41% fully vaccinated.
Note: These are the percentages of all Wyandotte County residents who have been vaccinated anywhere in the state of Kansas.
During the Special Session, Dr. Corriveau noted that the case numbers and percent positivity appear to be trending downward after much higher case numbers recently, hitting over 100 new cases per day at some points in August. However, case numbers are still high enough for Wyandotte County to be considered an area of high community spread by CDC standards.
“We have seen a really impressive downturn of those cases – I think we’ve turned that corner,” said Dr. Erin Corriveau, Deputy Health Officer with the Unified Government Public Health Department. “I think that is due to masking. But I think that if we were to let up too soon, we could have another sort of bump [in COVID-19 cases], and I don’t think our healthcare workforce and our hospitals could take that right now.”
Dr. Corriveau noted that, while cases have started to go down, hospitalizations have not declined in the same way at this time.
“At KU Hospital where I practice, we’re still not seeing any decline in the numbers of patients who we have on ventilators or in the hospital with COVID at this time,” said Dr. Corriveau. “We still have, day in and day out, over 100 patients of our total 900 patients inpatient, who have COVID-19. We’re seeing that these hospitalizations are still in our younger population, unfortunately – 30s, 40s, 50s. We’re also seeing many children still at this point in time hospitalized, which has been very sad.”
Individuals age five and older must wear masks over the nose and mouth when:
Inside any public space including businesses and places of worship;
Obtaining services from the healthcare sector in settings including, but not limited to, a hospital, pharmacy, medical clinic, laboratory, physician or dental office, vaccination site, COVID-19 testing site, veterinary clinic, or blood bank (unless otherwise directed by an employee or healthcare provider);
Waiting for or riding on public transportation or while in a taxi, private car service, or ride-sharing vehicle; and
All businesses or organizations in Wyandotte County must require all employees, customers, visitors, members, or members of the public to wear a mask or other face covering when:
Employees are working in any space visited by customers or members of the public, regardless of whether anyone from the public is present at the time; or
Employees are working in an indoor space; or
Employees are working in any space where food is prepared or packaged for sale or distribution to others; or
In any indoor space where members
The UGPHD continues to offer free COVID-19 vaccines for people who live in Wyandotte County age 12 and older, at the former Kmart site at 7836 State Avenue. Hours for COVID-19 vaccinations and testing are as follows (NOTE: All of these services are free of charge!):
COVID Testing: Monday – Friday 9 am – 3 pm
COVID Vaccines: Wednesday – Friday 10 am – 6 pm
Incentives for those who get their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine at the Kmart facility are still available, through September 30th. Get more information on available vaccine incentives at WycoVaccines.org.
For more information on where to get vaccinated in Wyandotte County, visit WycoVaccines.org or call 3-1-1. To learn more about upcoming UGPHD mobile vaccination events visit their Facebook page at facebook.com/UGHealthDept
Janell Friesen
Public Health Department Public Information Officer
Wyandotte County, Kansas
Office: (913) 573-6703
Cell: (913) 428-9622
jfriesen@wycokck.org
Vaccine information: Go to WycoVaccines.org or call 3-1-1 (913-573-5311)
Other COVID-19 updates: Go to wycokck.org/COVID-19
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