Recent Kansas editorials

The Wichita Eagle, April 16

Three weeks into a statewide stay-at-home order, many Kansans already are asking when we can reopen for business.

That’s understandable, given the devastating effects the pandemic has inflicted on our daily lives and the economy.

But a troubling statistic nags at Kansas - and the Wichita area in particular - which should temper any talk of lifting the order and returning to our old habits.

In the U.S., Kansas ranks at the bottom in the number of per-capita tests for the coronavirus.

Data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project, a nationwide website managed by volunteer analysts and journalists, show that wide disparities exist among states when it comes to testing for the novel coronavirus and reporting results.

But Kansas is at the very bottom - 51st in the nation, on a list that includes the District of Columbia - with a rate of 4.95 tests per 1,000 people.

That’s well below the national average of 10.78 and drastically behind coronavirus hot-spot states like New York, which on Wednesday reported a testing rate of nearly 27.5 tests per 1,000 people.

The numbers for Sedgwick County are even worse. Despite three deaths, 217 confirmed cases, and verified community spread of COVID-19, the county still has one of the lowest testing rates in the state, at only 4.2 tests per 1,000 residents.

What does that mean? Uneven or inadequate testing leaves public health and medical professionals without a clear picture of how the virus is spreading within a given area.

And because people without symptoms can transmit the virus, it means COVID-19 in the Wichita area could be more prevalent than we know.

Until recently, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment had limited COVID-19 testing to health care workers and first responders, people 60 years and older, hospital patients and others with severe symptoms.

This week officials lifted the restrictions based on age and underlying conditions, but residents still must have a fever and at least two other symptoms of the coronavirus to qualify for a test.

Local health officials cite a lack of testing supplies: Vendors are either out of stock on sampling kits, or supplies get diverted to more hard-hit areas.

But that doesn’t explain why Kansas’ largest city trails so far behind the rest of the state and even our region.

Johnson County, just outside Kansas City, has a testing rate of 5.48 per 1,000 people, according to the latest KDHE statistics. Shawnee County’s rate is 8.75 per 1,000. Wyandotte County’s is 9.54 per 1,000.

On Monday, KDHE Secretary Lee Norman said he didn’t know why Sedgwick County’s testing rate lags behind other urban areas. He said it may take longer to send test samples to the state laboratory in Topeka.

“I don’t think the hospitals in Sedgwick County have as aggressively built their own capacity in-hospital,” Norman told a Wichita Eagle reporter.

He said hospitals may be “holding out” in hopes of receiving testing devices that produce results in under an hour, which could facilitate more widespread testing.

Whatever the reason, the situation is clear: Wichita’s dismal testing rate means we may not have an accurate picture of the coronavirus spread.

Until we do, returning to our old normal could be dangerous business.

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The Manhattan Mercury, April 15

We’re past the halfway point in April, and so far the load of coronavirus cases at the local hospital is almost negligible. There was only one patient in the hospital at the end of the day Wednesday.

There have been 25 confirmed cases in Riley County, five in Pottawatomie County and 10 in Geary County, but many of them have recovered, and other infected people are managing their illnesses at home.

A person might begin to wonder: Do we really need all these restrictions? Or was that all overkill?

The questions themselves are a reason for people in the Manhattan area to congratulate themselves, but the truth is that our only option is to continue to hunker down. Back to that in a minute.

Projections from health-care officials a few weeks ago showed that the peak of the surge of cases would hit in late April or early May. Those officials were confident that hospitals in the area could handle the volume, but they were asking for the public’s help in keeping the numbers down by staying home.

To try to prevent the sorts of disasters we witnessed in Italy and New York City — where the surge of cases overwhelmed hospitals — the government shuttered businesses and imposed stay-at-home orders.

The reality is that those policies are working. People’s behavior has truly changed. The virus is obviously spreading, but it is spreading at a pace that the system can handle.

There are still reasons for concern. Two employees at the east Dillons came down with the virus, and it’s certainly possible that they could have spread it to many people from there. Topeka also has a cluster, with 81 cases, and that’s awfully close down the road.

So it makes sense to extend the stay-at-home orders into early May, as Gov. Laura Kelly did Wednesday. They’re now in effect until May 3.

Whenever the restrictions are lifted, we can assume that there will be a bump in infections. But by putting that bump further down the road, it does appear that we are succeeding in flattening the curve, and assuring that the health care system can handle the load.

In fact, a big victory in the whole battle against the virus would be if we all get to the end of this period and say, “What was the big deal”?

So far, that’s what’s happening, and that’s a reason to celebrate. It is not yet, however, a reason to change the lockdown. There’s still no vaccine, and there’s no universal testing available, and the virus still spreads easily between people and can be lethal. Until those things change, or until health officials determine that any surge is manageable, then we’re stuck with restrictions.

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The Topeka Capital-Journal, April 19

When talking about the effects of the new coronavirus on the African-American community in Kansas, we should begin by making two points crystal clear.

First, there is nothing about being African American, in and of itself, that would predispose one to contracting the virus or doing poorly if infected. The color of one’s skin - in and of itself - doesn’t mean that a person is more or less susceptible.

Second, focusing on this topic is important. Medical researchers have known for years that different racial and ethnic groups see radically different health outcomes, and that these outcomes are directly connected to social contexts.

With that out of the way, let’s look at the news reported by The Topeka Capital-Journal’s Tim Carpenter and Sherman Smith: “The early indication is the virus has a disproportionate impact on black residents. Data show black Kansans are seven times more likely to die from COVID-19, and three times as likely to be infected.” Unfortunately, “those figures come with a caveat: Race and ethnicity haven’t been recorded for about 10% of the 80 deaths statewide or 20% of the state’s 1,588 positive tests.”

As in other areas of society, this pandemic exposes underlying problems. African Americans in Kansas are less likely to have health insurance, less likely to go to doctor and less likely to have satisfactory experiences when they do so.

Studies have shown that medical professionals often don’t take black patients as seriously as white patients with similar complaints and underestimate the amount of pain experienced by these patients. They aren’t doing this intentionally. They are reflecting the society in which they live.

What’s more, the fact that black families often have less wealth and other material resources - based on longstanding disinvestment and neglect of African American communities - means they are ill-prepared for the economic challenges created by virus-related shutdowns.

Solving this problem at the root requires broad-based changes. In the present moment, however, the state could take concrete steps. It could expand the Medicaid program to cover more of those without insurance. It could expand testing capacity, and not just in wealthy communities in the state. It could focus on making sure those in African American communities receive targeted education about the virus.

At the very least, the state has taken a critical first step by releasing this data and beginning a dialogue. Our next steps, though, in actually addressing the problem, could save lives.