An official rollout for the state’s plan to begin reopening the economy is expected later this week.
During her daily press briefing Monday, Governor Laura Kelly announced the official plan could be made public by Thursday, just three days before the current state-wide stay home order is tentatively set to expire and one day before the current expiration date of the governor’s executive order limiting church and funeral gatherings. During the briefing, Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Dr. Lee Norman explained illness trends across the state are becoming more conducive to warrant a pullback of certain restrictions currently in place.
Dr. Norman says hospitalizations and deaths related to COVID-19 are beginning to decrease, however, the state is likely to see an uptick in positive cases as testing increases.
Governor Kelly has still not given many specifics on the overall plan, however, she says the plan will see the state take a step back and allow counties to take the reigns on health regulations. However, the governor says the state will step in if those plans do not meet certain standards.
Governor Kelly also announced Monday that FEMA had finally fulfilled one of the state’s numerous requests for equipment to combat the COVID-19 pandemic Sunday. The state will be receiving a new Batelle (Buh-Tell) Decontamination station which will allow the state to sanitize and reuse N95 masks for front line workers.
According to the governor, the equipment should be up and running by some time next week and will allow for the sanitization and reuse of up to 80,000 masks a day. Masks that meet certain criteria can be sanitized up to 20 separate times.
KDHE and the Kansas Department of Emergency Management will be responsible for coordinating with state health care providers for the system’s launch and logistics for use in health care systems across the state according to Governor Kelly.
Governor Kelly is scheduled to continue her daily press briefings at 2 pm Tuesday. The full press conference will be available on KVOE 1400 am, 96.9 FM and KVOE.com.
