Regional COVID-19 Hubs Archived

Last week’s declaration that the federal government was ending travel restrictions marked the formal end of the COVID-19 saga as a public health emergency in the U.S. And with that, the Mid-America Regional Council has archived its COVID hub, which tracked cases, deaths, hospitalizations and more since the pandemic arrived in the Kansas City region.

State health departments in Missouri and Kansas are now directing inquiries to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website.

The formal emergency may have lifted, but that doesn’t mean the viral threat is entirely gone. The virus blamed for 106.8 million American deaths since early 2020 has evolved into various strains and poses less risk of death in 2023, but it will be a part of the natural environment forever.

Hospital executives say the best way to limit exposure to the virus will be the now-familiar routine of avoiding large crowds and poorly ventilated spaces, wash your hands frequently, and take care not to touch your eyes or face. For those considered most vulnerable to the illness based on co-morbidities, health officials recommend wearing masks in public.

Among the points of interest in MARC’s data:

• The peak date for new hospitalizations was Jan. 20 of this year, when 204 people were admitted with COVID symptoms at the 24 regional hospitals that reported to the agency.
• That same date produced the peak number of hospital beds filled with COVID patients, 1,418.
• During that third week of January, the region saw total bed demand as a percentage of all beds peak at 32.27 percent. For reference, healthcare industry sources suggest that an increase of more than 15 percent over traditional usage represented a significant strain on hospital resources.

Going forward, updated data gathered on COVID can be found at the CDC site here.