KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two weeks after the Thanksgiving holiday and as Kansas Citians gear up for December holidays, data show the area is navigating an uptick in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.
On Monday, Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at the University of Kansas Health System, said the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized increased from 19 last week to 33 in the current week.
Hawkinson said family and social gatherings associated with the Thanksgiving holiday could be related to the uptick in hospitalizations.
He also pointed out that although the newest COVID vaccines are effective against new variants, the percentage of the U.S. population who has taken the updated vaccine is below 20 percent.
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Data updated Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties in Kansas in the "yellow" category in the rate of hospital admissions. The remainder of the Kansas City area remains in the "green category."
The most recent update of data in the Missouri Sewershed Project, which monitors viral loads in wastewater treatment plants across the state, shows an increase at facilities across the entire state, including several in the KSHB 41 viewing area.
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