KANSAS CITY, Kan. — As we enter a new year, public health leaders face similar challenges to 2020 when it comes to preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus.
In Wyandotte County, Kansas, the director of the Unified Government Public Health Department, Juliann Van Liew, said she wants to increase testing in 2021, and rolling out the vaccine will be a big challenge.
Van Liew is pleased with the community buy-in and believes maintaining that level of engagement will be critical in the fight against COVID-19 in the new year.
The number of COVID-19 tests returning a positive result is around 40 percent in Wyandotte County. Van Liew called the number “outrageous.”
Jackson and Platte counties in Missouri have similar percentages based on a two-week average. Johnson County, Kansas, Clay County, Missouri, and Kansas City, Missouri, have smaller percentages. The Mid-America Regional Council says the 10-county metropolitan area had a positivity rate of 25 percent during the last two weeks of 2020.
Van Liew believes the number in Wyandotte County is high because asymptomatic people are not getting tested, therefore don’t know they need to quarantine and are potentially spreading the virus.
“We just continue to really put that battle cry out there to people: if you’ve been anywhere, or with any sort of group of people who you’re not normally around, if you’ve gone anywhere, please come get tested, even if you feel well,” Van Liew said.
The Unified Government is conducting testing all week long at locations like the former K-Mart at 78th Street and State Avenue.
The goal of 2021 is to vaccinate the public, Van Liew said. The health department created a vaccination center inside that former K-Mart. She said she is ready on the local level to administer the vaccine but is getting late and inconsistent messaging from the state of Kansas.
“That sort of thing makes it really difficult to plan,” Van Liew pointed out. “How can plan how much staff I need? How can I schedule the vaccines for people when I don’t know if I’m going to receive 200 or 2,000?”
Van Liew remains optimistic the county will successfully roll out the vaccine. People living in the county can fill out an online form to indicate their interest in receiving a vaccine.
Unfortunately, Wyandotte County has documented cases of people receiving a vaccination and then contracting COVID-19 days later.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it takes up to two weeks for the vaccine to boost the recipient’s immunity. Van Liew cautions recipients not to let their guards down.
The Unified Government is reviewing feedback about restrictions forcing bars and restaurants to close at 10 p.m. and may issue changes to those orders later this week.
