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Kansas City, Mo. sees rise in COVID-19 patients in ICU

Data from Kansas City hospitals shows the rate of ICU beds taken up by coronavirus patients has risen from 9 percent to 23 percent over the last month. Fewer open beds reveals a trend of increased cases in the Midwest.

A decrease in the number of open ICU beds at hospitals in Kansas City, Mo. and throughout the region has confirmed a broader trend showing that the number of COVID-19 cases is on the rise.

New coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are continuing to reach new highs in both Kansas and Missouri and increasing at a faster rate than at any point during the pandemic.

Changes in how hospital capacity is reported are showing that the Kansas City area has fewer intensive care units than previous data suggested, and those units have been filling quickly.

An average of 120 people are newly admitted to Kansas City area hospitals each day, according to data from the Mid-America Regional Council. KU Hospital reported its highest number of COVID-19 patients ever on Thursday morning. And more than 1,800 people are currently hospitalized with the coronavirus in Missouri, the highest number so far.

Through most of the pandemic, public COVID-19 dashboards have generally shown that hospitals have had ample capacity to handle patients, even as patient counts have increased.

But public data from the Mid-America Regional Council, which have recently been updated to better represent hospital capacity, now show a more concerning situation.

Twenty-three percent of ICUs are currently occupied by COVID-19 patients, compared with just under 9% a month ago. Fewer than 18% of ICUs in the metro area are currently available for use.

Federal data show that nationwide, an average of 31% of ICUs remain available.