KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, continues to spread across the world, and in Missouri and Kansas.
41 Action News is keeping track of all closings and cancellations, as well as tracking where positive coronavirus cases are located.
If you are a business finding unique ways to serve our community, check our KC Open for Business Facebook group to share your ideas.
Updates on the spread of the virus and how it is affecting the metro can be found below for July 23.
10:09 p.m. | Need to get new tags or register a car in Wyandotte County? An 11-week closure and furloughs have staff at least a month and a half behind.
9:58 p.m. | Food insecurity remains a massive problem in Kansas City amid the pandemic and record unemployment.
8 p.m. | The Kearney School District said Thursday night that one of its summer school teachers has tested positive for COVID-19.
In a letter to the community, the district said the teacher was leading a session of Summer Round Up at Southview Elementary.
The district conducted contact tracing and believes fewer than 10 staff and students came into close enough contact. Those people have been notified.
7 p.m. | It's official: Students in all three of Johnson County's biggest school districts won't return to the classroom until after Labor Day.
Olathe Public Schools voted Thursday to delay the start of the 2020-21 school year until at least Sept. 8. The district joins Shawnee Mission, Blue Valley and the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools in announcing a delay until after Labor Day.
The decision was left up to individual districts Wednesday after the Kansas State Board of Education did not to affirm Gov. Laura Kelly's executive order, which would have delayed the start of school statewide until after Labor Day.
We've been compiling school district return-to-school plans. You can read the latest update on our school resource page.
Olathe also released its full back-to-school plan after delaying action last week when Kelly announced her planned executive orders.
5:45 p.m. | Blue River Nursing & Rehab, also known as Redwood of Blue River, has reported 71 cases of COVID-19 among residents, 11 of whom have died. Meanwhile, 15 staff members also have tested positive as of July 22.
According to the Kansas City, Missouri, Health Department, it's the largest known outbreak at a nursing home facility in Kansas City since the pandemic began.
5:15 p.m. | In a statement late Thursday afternoon, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly blasted Attorney General Derek Schmidt for comments he made about school districts and counties exempting themselves from her executive order requiring masks in schools.
"Attorney General Derek Schmidt is wrong, and more importantly, his comments further demonstrate that he and Republican leadership have abdicated their duty to serve the people of Kansas during the worst public health crisis in a century – and instead, put the burden back on local communities," Kelly said in the statement. "Their failure to lead has only created more hurdles and uncertainty for Kansans."
4:43 p.m. | The Kansas Department of Revenue announced the Kansas City, Kansas, driver's license location will temporarily close Friday, July 24, due to a suspected COVID-19 case at the office.
This is the office located at 155 S. 18th Street.
Customers who had an appointment at this location can still go to the following locations:
- 6507 Johnson Drive, Mission
- 13507 S. MurLen Suite #137, Olathe
- 7600 W. 119th Street, Suite D, Overland Park
- 111 B Delaware Street, Leavenworth
- 1035 N. 3rd Street, Suite 119, Lawrence
The KCK location will reopen on Monday, July 27.
4:15 p.m. | The city of Blue Springs says it will allocate an additional $158,235 in Community Development Block Grant funding through the CARES Act to a small business loan program and the Community Services League.
The small business loan program, which will receive $135,000 of the funds, will assist small businesses with retaining jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For more information or to apply for the program, visit the city's website. Applications will be accepted through Aug. 31.
4:05 p.m. | North Kansas City Mayor Don Stielow has amended an order for the city, extending the mask requirement in public spaces through Sunday, Aug. 23. The amended order also updates the recommendation for minors, mirroring guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that says any child over the age of 2 should wear face coverings.
Finally, the amended order prohibits gatherings of more than 50 people on city-owned property, except in the case of city-sponsored events that have been planned by North Kansas City staff.
3:55 p.m. | Kansas City International Airport saw 78% fewer passengers arriving and departing through its doors in June compared with the previous year. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have significant impacts on the travel industry. In June, a total of 121,991 travelers boarded planes to depart KCI, a 78.1% increase from the year before.
Year-to-date, total passengers through KCI are down 56.7%, while year-to-date passenger boardings are down 57.1%, according to the Kansas City, Missouri, Aviation Department.
3:30 p.m. | For the third straight day, Missouri has reported more than 1,000 new cases of COVID-19. The 1,275 cases added Thursday are the second-most in a single day behind Wednesday (1,328). It's also the first time Missouri has added more than 1,000 new cases in three consecutive days.
Kansas, which does not report new statewide data on Thursdays, added 81 cases on Thursday. In the seven-county Kansas City metro, 387 new cases were reported, bringing the area's total number of cases to 17,627, according to data kept by 41 Action News.
Also Thursday, the U.S. topped 4 million COVID-19 cases nationwide.
1:45 p.m. | The White House privately warned the mayors of 11 major U.S. cities, including St. Louis, that they need to take "aggressive" steps to control COVID-19 outbreaks, the Center for Public Integrity reports.
1:30 p.m. | Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt told the Associated Press that he believes local schools districts can exempt themselves from Gov. Laura Kelly's executive order requiring staff and students to wear masks. Schmidt said a law passed last month allows counties and districts to opt out of Kelly’s order on masks in schools. Kelly has said the opposite.
12:25 p.m. | The federal government's new COVID-19 hospital reporting system went live this week. It requires hospitals to report data to the Department of Health and Human Services instead of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The new system is causing concern among public health experts. Dave Dillon, spokesperson for the Missouri Hospitals Association, said switching over to a new reporting system with less than two days' notice is causing chaos among hospitals.
10:55 a.m. | Dr. Lee Norman, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, took to Twitter on Thursday to warn the state is heading "into unprecedented territory" as cases of the virus continue to surge in the state.
"Now is the time to pull together and fight the virus, not each other," Norman said in the tweet, which comes one day after the Kansas State Board of Education rejected the governor's executive order to delay the start of school statewide until after Labor Day.
10:40 a.m. | The city of Shawnee has launched the Shawnee Economic Recovery Assistance Grant Program, also known as SERA. A spokesperson says the program will allow small, non-essential businesses to apply for a grant of up to $5,000 to help pay their rent or mortgage during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Applications will be accepted from Aug.3-23. More information can be found online.
10:30 a.m. | Leawood-based AMC Theatres has again delayed its reopening plans, with a new reopening date now expected in mid- to late August due to the increase in COVID-19 cases. The company had planned to begin reopening theaters on July 30.
9:30 a.m. | The Arts and Recreation Foundation of Overland Park says it has canceled Stems: A Garden Soirée for 2020. Next year's event will be held on June 26.
8:51 a.m. | University of Kansas Health System officials gave their daily COVID-19 update.
7:20 a.m. | Just starting your day? We’ve got you covered with a quick look at what you need to know.
5:30 a.m. | Senate Republicans and the White House reached a tentative agreement for more testing funds in the next COVID-19 relief package, according to the Associated Press.
5 a.m. | According to the Associated Press, laboratories across the U.S. are buckling under a surge of coronavirus tests, creating long processing delays that experts say are undercutting the pandemic response.
With the U.S. tally of confirmed infections at nearly 4 million Wednesday and new cases surging, the bottlenecks are creating problems for workers kept off the job while awaiting results, nursing homes struggling to keep the virus out and for the labs themselves as they deal with a crushing workload.
The testing lags in the U.S. come as the number of people confirmed to be infected worldwide passed a staggering 15 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. leads the world in cases as well as deaths, which have exceeded 142,000.
Previous coverage:
March 2020 updates
April 2020 updates
May 2020 updates
June 2020 updates
Wednesday, July 1
Thursday, July 2
Friday, July 3
Monday, July 6
Tuesday, July 7
Wednesday, July 8
Thursday, July 9
Friday, July 10
Monday, July 13
Tuesday, July 14
Wednesday, July 15
Thursday, July 16
Friday, July 17
Monday, July 20
Tuesday, July 21
Wednesday, July 22
