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Unfortunately, today we learned of the first covert 19 related death in our state. The death was of a male and a seven in Wyandotte County who lived in a long term care facility. He had other underlying health conditions and was receiving care at a local hospital at the time of his death. My staff at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Service's are working closely with local health care officials to determine any activities that he may have engaged in during the previous 14 days and who may have had contact with him. Every effort is being made to mitigate the spread of the virus, including quarantining all who are known to have been in contact with this individual. The situation also demanded that I declare emergency which will grant my administration the ability to activate state resource is and mobilize personnel to assist where needed in the state. This emergency declaration will ensure that we bring to bear the full resources of our government and appropriately spawned two Kansans specific needs. During this time, I want to let every Kansan no, we will use all resource is necessary as we continue to mitigate the spread of this virus. It is also worth repeating all Kansans. This is not the time to panic. Please continue to use common sense and washing, coughing into your elbow. Staying home won Il This remains the best defense against Cove in 19 at this time. We're also suggesting practicing social distancing and avoiding large crowds. Kansans, Health and Wellbeing remains our highest priority. More recommendations will be released in the morning from the Department of Administration related to operations of the Capitol complex. This will include limiting visitors to those who have business before the Legislature, so please go to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment website. K T H e K s dot gov for Helpful Resource is in daily updates on Cove in 19 in Kansas.

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Kansas announced its first death related to the coronavirus on Thursday.Gov. Laura Kelly made the announcement at a 6:30 p.m. briefing. She said the patient was a man in his 70s in Wyandotte County, who lived in a long-term care facility. The governor said he had underlying health issues and was receiving care at Providence Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas, when he died.Kelly said health officials are trying to determine who may have had contact with the man."Every effort is being made to mitigate the spread of the virus, including quarantining all who are known to have been in contact with this individual," the governor said.Mayor David Alvey of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas, said he was saddened to learn about the death.“Our thoughts are with his loved ones and those impacted by his passing," he said. "The Unified Government Public Health Department serving Wyandotte County will continue to conduct a contact investigation in this case. This is a process where we retrace the patient’s steps and activities so that we can identify anyone who may have been potentially exposed to COVID-19. During this process, we will continue to rely on the cooperation and support of KDHE and our local partners in the KC metro area.” Kelly also announced a state of emergency."This is not a time to panic. Please continue to use common sense: handwashing, coughing into your elbow, staying home when ill. This remains the best defense against COVID-19," she said.State health officials confirmed that this is the fifth case of coronavirus in the state."The patient wasn't tested until he came into the hospital. Hadn't had any reason to be suspicious of it. It was thought to be a cardiac reason that brought him in to the hospital. And it was through the course of his medical evaluation that it was viewed as a good idea to do testing because he had a fever," Dr. Lee Norman, the secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. He said the hospital was Providence Medical Center and testing was done postmortem.Norman said this is the first instance of the virus spreading via the community in Kansas."As a skilled nursing facility resident, and one who is not mobile really, he had to have gotten it from some place. So by definition, it was in the community," Norman said.He did not identify the skilled nursing facility.Providence Medical Center released a statement that read in part:"Our hospital has identified the staff who came into contact with the patient while providing care and is following all guidelines regarding healthcare work exposure. "We extend our deepest condolences to the patient’s family. At this time, our top priority remains protecting public health and ensuring the safety of our patients, visitors, staff, physicians, volunteers, and community."Earlier Thursday, state officials announced that three more residents in the Kansas City area have the new coronavirus.The three infected men, ages 35 to 65, all attended a conference in Florida in late February, but didn't show symptoms until they returned to Kansas, said Mary Beverly, interim director of the Johnson County Health Department. The Johnson County residents have not been hospitalized and are not seriously ill, she said. The state's first case - a woman under 50 - also was reported in Johnson County earlier this month. Johnson County is the state's most populous county, home to sprawling and affluent suburbs and engine of the state's economy. All four confirmed cases involve someone who became infected while traveling out of state. The woman had traveled to the Northeast.With professional and collegiate sports contests canceled, Kansas legislators contemplated whether they should take their annual spring break early. Norman said they should remain in session through April 3 as planned, but some lawmakers had doubts, given the regular flow of visitors to the Statehouse. The break is set to last until April 27.House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr., an Olathe Republican, said legislative leaders are monitoring developments. As he spoke with two reporters, he put dollops of hand sanitizer gel on the reporters' hands.“We're like a big Petri dish,” said House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer, a Wichita Democrat. “You know, it would take one person to get sick and you could spread it all over the place.”Public school officials also began to contemplate what might happen if health officials directed them to close a school. Department of Education officials told local school districts Thursday that most of them would have a hard time meeting academic requirements for online courses and that their other options were to make up missed days in late May or ask the department to waive requirements that schools be in session 186 days.Education Commissioner Randy Watson said the department has canceled all non-essential travel outside Kansas through April and urged school districts to have students who traveled out of state during spring break to report to the health department.Watson called for “incredible hygiene” in school buildings and vigilance but added, “Panic is running too rampant across the United States, across our state and in our schools.”For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover. The announcement of the latest coronavirus cases came hours after the University of Kansas, Kansas State University and Emporia State University joined colleges across the country in shifting classes online to mitigate the spread of the new coronavirus.All three campuses are on spring break this week. The University of Kansas announced Wednesday and Kansas State and Emporia State said on Thursday that they would delay the start of classes that usually meet in-person until March 23, when the classes will be taught remotely. Kansas State and Emporia State said the remote classes would continue “until further notice," while the University of Kansas said they may continue for several weeks.Kansas State urged students to remain at home, away from the regular campus, unless they can't return home due to travel restrictions. Washburn University of Topeka announced it was shifting in-person classes through March 20 and that most classes after that date will be conducted online, urging students not to return to campus. Johnson County Community College announced that its campus would be closed to all but essential personnel through March 29, and that all classes would be moved online after that. The Kansas Board of Regents, which governs the state’s public universities, voted Wednesday night to allow each school to make its own decision.ORIGINAL STORYThe Kansas Department of Health and Johnson County Health Department announced Thursday there are three new presumptive positive cases of COVID-19 in Johnson County. The presumptive positive cases were identified Saturday with testing sent to KDHE’s Kansas Health and Environmental Laboratories. These results will be verified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lab, but will be treated as positive unless determined otherwise.Health officials said the cases involve male individuals who traveled to a Florida conference.Johnson County health officials said the three new cases are not related to the previous presumptive positive case that was reported last Saturday. Also on Saturday, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced the state’s first positive case of COVID-19, which was reported in St. Louis County.