Almost 60% of Kansas counties have now adopted mask mandates as COVID-19 permeates the state and officials scramble to bring it under control.
The latest report from the Kansas Association of Counties shows that 62 of the state’s 105 counties have now opted for mask mandates, including 36 that imposed a mandate after Gov. Laura Kelly issued a revised mask order a week ago.
The 62 counties with mask mandates cover roughly 2.5 million of the state’s 2.9 million population, including the biggest counties in the state.
The number of counties with mandates was up from 51 that had been reported by the close of business on Tuesday.
Some of the larger counties to opt out of the mask order include Leavenworth, Ford, Butler, Seward, Osage and Pottawatomie counties, which have a combined population of about 166,000.
Those counties also account for about 15,000, or roughly 10%, of the 147,797 COVID-19 cases that the state health department reported on Wednesday.
Gov. Laura Kelly signed a revised mask order a week ago with the goal of getting more buy-in from so many of the counties that originally balked at going along with her first order issued last summer.
Counties faced a 12:01 a.m. deadline on Wednesday to write their own law, adopt the governor’s mandate or opt out completely.
The governor’s order allows the counties to craft their own ordinance or fall under the umbrella of her most recent mask mandate.
Counties still have the power to opt out of the governor’s executive order.
After the governor signed her first executive order last summer, only about 15 counties agreed to adopt mask mandates.
But the virus is more pervasive now than it was fourth months ago, especially in rural areas that are seeing the number of new cases growing rapidly.
Kelly on Wednesday noted that the latest White House coronavirus report placed Kansas as having the 12th highest rate of spread in the country and 92% of the state’s counties have moderate or high levels of community transmission.
She also pointed out that the report showed that Kansas ranked fourth nationally in the percent of people testing positive for COVID-19.
“Unfortunately, as you can see the virus continues to spread throughout our communities at an alarming rate,” Kelly said.
When the governor signed the first mask order in early July, there were 15,919 cases of COVID-19. By this Wednesday, the state health department reported 147,797.
The number of hospitalizations climbed to 4,921 this week from 1,219 in July. The number of deaths has risen to 1,503 from 277 last July.
“We have seen many counties opt in to our statewide face-covering protocol or adopt their own community specific orders,” Kelly said.
“If there is one thing that we have learned through the last six months, it is that slowing the spread of COVID-19 is a team effort.”
