A man welds into the night in a machine shop Thursday, April 23, 2020, in Strong City, Kan. Many in rural less-affected communities have been pushing for states to end stay-at-home orders and lift business restrictions meant to stem the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

A man welds into the night in a machine shop Thursday, April 23, 2020, in Strong City, Kan. Many in rural less-affected communities have been pushing for states to end stay-at-home orders and lift business restrictions meant to stem the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

MISSION, Kan. (AP) — State officials said Friday Kansas may be nearing or has already reached its peak in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths, leaving the state to focus on the economic fallout of closing businesses to stem the spread.

Kansas saw the number of deaths drop Friday from 112 to 111 after an investigation determined one of the previously counted fatalities was not related to the coronavirus. Positive cases increased by 295 to 2,777. But the increase comes as the state, whose testing rate had been among the lowest in the nation, works to boost testing.

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Gov. Laura Kelly said it appears the state is “headed toward the downhill slope of this journey.”

“We should be able to proceed with our transition from response to recovery next week as planned,” Kelly said. That includes working on a plan for spending federal aid, reopening the economy in phases and identifying a strategy for “addressing an imminent budget crisis.”

The National Governors Association is calling on Congress to approve $500 billion more for direct aid to states, and Kelly said such funding is critical. The emergency federal funding that has been approved so far can’t be used by state’s to plug holes in their budgets.

Kelly noted Kansas is facing a projected 8.1% shortfall in its next state budget after a new fiscal forecast slashed projections for expected tax collections over the next 15 months by nearly $1.37 billion, according to projections released earlier this week.

“The Great Recession cuts were brutal, but they occurred gradually,” Kelly said, adding that without federal help, “Kansas will be forced to make all of those cuts in just one budget cycle.”

She said it is particularly crucial to protect education, health care and infrastructure spending.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness and death.

In Kansas, the cases are heavily concentrated in nursing homes and rehabilitation facilities, where there are 19 clusters and 63 deaths, 57% of the state’s total. Federal and state officials also are monitoring outbreaks in six meatpacking plants, where 250 are infected.

Dr. Lee Norman, the state’s health director, said the state is beginning to have the capacity not just to test the ill, but to conduct surveillance testing to determine the prevalence of the virus in different communities.

“One of the things we do not want to do is fly blind in terms of predicting and in terms of allocating resources,” Norman said.