Coronavirus cases on college campuses worries state’s top doctor

TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNT) — There have been 723 new coronavirus cases and 6 new deaths in Kansas since Monday. With Kansas schools reopening, the state’s top doctor is expressing his concern about the virus spread.

Since Monday, 12 new coronavirus clusters have popped up in Kansas, 5 of those new clusters come from colleges and universities in the state. Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Lee Norman says the substantial cases on college campuses isn’t surprising, but it is occurring much earlier than expected.

Most schools began classes just this week but are already seeing positive cases. Secretary Norman says this is likely because students were already sick before going to school. Norman adds this is a further reason for schools to not hold large gatherings, like sporting events or large lectures, right now.

“We’ve been very consistent since, really, March talking about mass gatherings and…anything that’s a mass gathering puts people at risk. There’s just no question about it,” explained Norman.

Some Kansas colleges and universities are choosing to not released their coronavirus numbers to the public, which is creating concern for community members in college towns. Secretary Norman says unless people may have come in contact with an infected person, there’s no need to release specific data to the public.

“Unless there’s a specific reason, whether it’s a school, or business or university, we tend to not release that and the local health departments tend to not want to release that,” said Norman. “But if you have to release information in order for people to feel safe and self-identify, then I think it would be important to do that.”

According to the KDHE website, from the 5 clusters at Kansas colleges/universities, there are currently 57 confirmed positive coronavirus cases.

For more information on COVID-19 cases in Kansas, click here.