TOPEKA, Kan. – All five primary COVID-19 variants of concern are now in the state, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, as variant cases continue to rise.
KDHE reported 185 variant cases in 45 counties as of Wednesday, with the five most prevalent variant types confirmed to be in the state. This marks a 32% increase over the number of variant cases last week, when the state began publishing the data publicly.
Shawnee County has the most COVID-19 variant cases in the state, with 49 cases. Most of those are the B.1.1.7 variant, originating in the United Kingdom, but the county announced five cases of the California variant were discovered over the weekend.
Sedgwick County has 47 variant cases, followed by Labette County with 18, Finney County with 8 and Ford County with 7.
Researchers are still studying what the variants mean going forward. There is evidence to suggest they spread more easily than the standard form of COVID-19, although the variants don’t necessarily appear to be more deadly.
Officials are still studying whether vaccines are less effective against some of the variants, most notably the P1 strain originating in Brazil. Others, like the B.1.1.7 variant, are covered by the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, studies show.
The variants haven’t yet taken hold in Kansas as much as some other states, although officials warn that individuals should continue to take precautionary measures and get vaccinated, if they haven’t been already.
“Those variants are looming over us and we are following it very closely and can respond very quickly … should there be an outbreak as a result of that,” said Lee Norman, secretary of health and environment.
Overall cases of COVID-19 ticked up Wednesday, with KDHE reporting a rise of 593 cases since Monday, as well as an increase of six deaths. 36 new hospitalizations were reported in that timeframe.
KDHE reported 1,078,489 individuals have gotten at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Overall, over 1.7 million doses have been administered out of the 2.3 million shots delivered to Kansas.
The state is 32nd nationally for vaccine administration per capita, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
