Kansas and Missouri doctors discuss the late summer COVID-19 spike during a University of Kansas Health System medical briefing Aug. 30, 2024. (Kansas Reflector screen capture from KU Health video)
TOPEKA — As the Kansas and Missouri medical communities prepare for respiratory illness season, health officials grapple with an early COVID-19 infection spike and higher-than-normal tuberculosis infections in Wyandotte County.
COVID positivity rates have been steadily increasing in Kansas, Missouri and across the country since July. The increase is higher than last summer’s rates and similar to the surge in infections seen this January, doctors said during a Friday morning medical update from the University of Kansas Health System.
But those rates only scratch the surface, and medical professionals are uncertain what the upcoming respiratory illness season could look like, especially when continued COVID vaccinations have begun to dwindle, even with a new FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine, which recently became available at commercial pharmacies.