Data released today by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment shows the 7-day moving average of new COVID cases is just 1% per day, and up from 0.9% a week ago.
A one-tenth of a percentage point increase isn’t surprising, given that the rate of increase is so low. The 1% increase is also the second-lowest recorded since the beginning of the COVID outbreak.
There are still 14 counties with no reported or suspected COVID cases, and another 21 counties have three or fewer.
Just a little over one-third of one percent (0.39%) of the Kansas population has or is suspected to be infected with COVID-19. The highest infection rates (between 4% and 5.6%) are the southwest Kansas meatpacking triangle of Finney, Ford, and Seward counties. But fortunately, the meatpacking clusters tracked by KDHE have very low mortality rates. With just 12 deaths among more than 2,800 cases, the mortality rate is just 0.4%.
KDHE has identified 165 clusters that account for 50% of all the cases and 73% of all the 
deaths in Kansas. Long-term care facilities have the highest mortality rate at 16.3%, representing 131 of the state’s 245 deaths.
Three correctional facility clusters account for a little over 1,000 cases – 9% of the state’s total – but with just seven deaths, the mortality rate is 0.7%.
There are 72 deaths and 5,679 cases reported outside of the clusters, for a mortality rate of 1.3%.
The rate of growth in the meatpacking counties of Finney, Ford, Lyon, and Seward is almost non-existent. Lyon County has the highest rate among the four, of just 0.44%; Ford County is at 0.2%, Seward at 0.13%, and Finney County is at just 0.11% as of June 15.
KSDE updates the data on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
