Kansas vaccine numbers increase while COVID-19 cases continue to drop

TOPEKA — The state of Kansas continues to see a drop in COVID-19 cases while vaccination efforts expand, health officials said Monday.

More than 16% of the state’s residents had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported. More than 698,000 doses have been administered, with 232,986 people receiving second doses.

Another 590 COVID-19 cases were recorded between Friday and Monday, raising the state’s total since the pandemic began to 296,451. Four new deaths were reported, raising the total number of deaths to 4,816.

Despite improving vaccination figures, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Kansas still ranks 46th in the number of shots administered per 100,000 residents.

State health officials argue the state is doing better than the CDC reports, and the differences are caused by a data glitch, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported.

Gov. Laura Kelly has said progress is being made to correct the issues but Kansas hasn’t improved in the rankings in the two weeks since the steps were announced.

Statewide, only 137 individuals were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Sunday, the lowest figure since the state began reporting that data in July.

COMMENTS

Welcome to the new LJWorld.com. Our old commenting system has been replaced with Facebook Comments. There is no longer a separate username and password login step. If you are already signed into Facebook within your browser, you will be able to comment. If you do not have a Facebook account and do not wish to create one, you will not be able to comment on stories.