KDHE reports Kansas COVID-19 deaths have topped 10,000

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Although COVID-19 no longer makes headlines like it used to, it has not gone away. And on Wednesday, Kansas health officials reported a grim milestone — the state’s COVID-19 death toll has topped 10,000.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) said 10,029 Kansas deaths have been linked to the coronavirus since the pandemic began three years ago.

Although that is an increase of 34 over last week’s report, it does not mean 34 people died in the last week. The KDHE shows four deaths in the past seven days, with 16 deaths in February. Because the KDHE often reviews death certificates, the other deaths could be from previous months or years of the pandemic.

The deaths have slowed. It took five-and-a-half months to go from 9,000 to 10,000, compared to earlier in the pandemic when the death toll sometimes jumped by a thousand in just one month.

MonthKansas COVID-19 death tollOctober 20201,000December 20202,000January 20213,000February 20214,000May 20215,000September 20216,000December 20217,000March 20228,000August 20229,000February 202310,000Source: Kansas Department of Health and Environment

During a check of Kansas hospitals on Tuesday, the KDHE learned there are 149 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. That is down two from last week.

136 of the patients are adults

13 are children

27 of the patients are in intensive care

The KDHE reports 2,057 Kansans tested positive for the coronavirus in the last seven days. The state says the seven-day average of new cases is 277.

Some of the cases are tested for variants. The KDHE says 30 recent cases came back as the omicron variant; one was the BA.4/BA.5 subvariant; 14 were the BQ subvariant; and 14 were the XBB.1.5 subvariant.

Vaccinations against COVID-19 have slowed. In the past week:

310 Kansans got their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine

575 got a second dose

1,827 got a booster dose

The percentage of Kansans who have received at least one dose is 65.4%, while 57.5% have completed a vaccine series.