The Kansas City metro area continues to reopen as more and more of the population gets the COVID-19 vaccine. What you need to know: Sign up for our Newsletters The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said Monday the state has 313,274 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and there have been 5,058 deaths since the outbreak started. Overall, the state said 41.4% of the population has been vaccinated with at least one dose. The Missouri Department.
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By The Examiner staff
After a few weeks of slight increases, new COVID-19 cases dipped in Eastern Jackson County over the past week.
According to the Jackson County Health Department, which covers the county outside Kansas City, the rolling 14-day positive test percentage in Eastern Jackson stood at 6.3 percent as of Sunday, down from 6.6 the previous two weeks. That figured had dropped as low as 3.3 percent earlier in the spring. At the end of January, the rolling positive test percentage in EJC was at 25 percent.
The rolling seven-day average of new cases dropped from 47 last week to 35 as of Sunday, the lowest since 38 a month ago.
Doctors at a Monday morning news conference urged parents to have their children vaccinated against COVID-19.
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control at the University of Kansas Health System, said children can still spread COVID-19, and he urged parents of 12-to-15-year-olds to get their children COVID-19 vaccines.
Dr. Hawkinson’s children, ages 14 and 12, received their COVID-19 vaccines on Monday morning on camera during the news conference.
Dr. Hawkinson said the vaccines are safe, there is no concern about shedding the virus, there is no infertility caused by them, and the vaccines will not give people the COVID-19 illness. The vaccines are also very efficacious at protecting against the disease, he said.