Earlier this week, Health Secretary Lee Norman announced Kansas was one of 18 coronavirus “red zone” states. An unpublished report for the White House Coronavirus Task Force offers some pretty stringent steps for addressing the pandemic in all the designated states, including Kansas.
The document, obtained and published by the Center for Public Integrity, separates counties into red zone counties and yellow zone counties. So far, no area county is in what’s considered a red zone, where there are over 100 new cases per 100,000 people and a diagnostic test positive rate at or above 10 percent, or a yellow zone, with 10 to 100 new cases per 100,000 people and a diagnostic test positive rate between 5 and 10 percent. Lyon County officially has 10 to 100 cases per 100,000 people, but the test positivity is now under 5 percent based on the report.
In this guidance report, people in yellow zone counties should wear masks at all times outside the home, limit social gatherings to 25 people or less and stop going to bars and nightclubs. Gyms should limit occupancy to 25 percent. All retailers and personal service businesses should require masks and social distance. The report says those steps are needed “to preempt exponential spread.”
People in red zone counties should wear masks anywhere outside the home and limit gatherings to 10 people. Gyms, bars and nightclubs should be closed, and all retailers and personal service businesses — like yellow zone counties — should require masks and social distance.
Lyon County Public Health has been reviewing this update, but typically the document goes from the federal government to state governors and does not trickle down to the county health department level.
