KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Friday’s update from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment on COVID-19 cases and deaths might be the most sobering of the pandemic so far.
According to local and state health department reports, a 41 Action News data analysis Friday showed the state added 4,726 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, pushing the state’s total to 98,755.
The number of new cases is a single-day record, easily outpacing the previous record of 3,666 that was set on Monday, Nov. 2.
The state also reported that it added an additional 79 names to its list of people who have died from COVID-19. That list now totals 1,166 people.
The single-day death toll increase, like the number of new cases, was a single-day record, eclipsing the 56 deaths that were added on Wednesday, Oct. 21.
Friday’s report from KDHE shows that the number of new cases is up across the entire state, though the state’s two largest counties - Johnson and Sedgwick - contributed the most new cases on a pure volume basis.
Johnson County added 819 new COVID-19 cases since Wednesday’s report, pushing the county’s total to 17,858. The Johnson County Department of Health and Environment separately reported three additional deaths Friday, pushing the county’s total to 229.
The situation was even more dire in Sedgwick County, where KDHE reports more than 1,144 new COVID-19 cases were added since Wednesday. The county now has 15,838 cases.
