KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas could see the peak of the coronavirus outbreak in mid- to late April with up to 1,000 confirmed cases, officials said Friday.
Statewide, Kansas reported more than 30 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday. At a news conference, Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Dr. Lee Norman said he expects the state will continue to see an increase in cases before the outbreak reaches its peak.
“We’re getting a better feeling for how this disease is acting, what are the spread dynamics and, more importantly, what do you do about it,” Norman said at the news conference.
So far, cases in Kansas have not doubled every few days, which has been reported in areas such as New York.
“I’m feeling a little bit relaxed about the comfort we’re getting around the numbers and the ability to accommodate what’s coming down the pipe,” Norman said. “Are we going to continue to have more cases? We are going to continue to have more cases until we peak out, and then it will slow down."
Norman, who has expressed frustration with the limited amount of testing the state can handle, also said that new equipment being delivered this weekend should allow Kansas to quadruple the number of COVID-19 tests it handles each day.
The equipment, which should be tested as early as the beginning of next week, will allow the state laboratory to test between 700 and 1,000 specimens per day, compared with the 175 tests the state currently averages daily, Norman said.
