Coping with COVID: Kansas moving up ranks in positivity metrics

As of Wednesday, Kansas shows to be inching toward the top when it comes to states with high COVID-19 numbers and positivity rates.

Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Dr. Lee Norman said Wednesday that currently the state ranks sixth nationally for case positivity rate and 16th in the number of new cases per 100,000 residents.

When coming up with this ranking, data was drawn from the state and was matched against analytics coming down from the White House, Norman said.

The number of cases sits just below 40,000 at 39,937, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment website, which ranks Kansas 34th overall in terms of confirmed cases.

Data showing Kansas at number 16 for number of cases put the state in the top third tier in that category, new numbers showing it case rate continues to rise.

On Wednesday, the nation’s average positivity rate was calculated to be 5.8 percent; Kansas’ is 10.3 percent.

In a positive turn, Norman said the state continues to make good work with testing, increasing its testing capacity and exceeding the number of tests recommended by the White House.

CLARIFICATION: An earlier version of this report incorrectly stated the metric for cases per 100,000 residents. That reference has now been updated.