KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As the number of COVID-19 cases climb across the metro, the area is running low on hospital beds, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The agency issued a COVID-19 hotspot advisory for Cass County and Jackson County, including Kansas City and Independence.
As of Monday, the area is seeing an above average number of COVID-19 cases.
The decision to issue the advisory was made due to the increased number of COVID-19 cases in the area over the past week, according to the state health department. Leaders also said that resources are begin strained and several hospitals are near or at capacity.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said it expected the disease to continue to spread into Northwest Missouri in the coming days.
They said the delta variant is believed to be contributing to the current spike in cases. Health experts have said the variant spreads more easily and has a higher risk of hospitalization than other variants.
While the state said vaccination is the best way to prevent hospitalizations at this point, the number of people who are vaccinated continued to lag in the Kansas City metro.
According to state records Kansas City, Jackson County, and Cass County are all behind the national average of vaccinated populations.
- Kansas City — 40.1%
- Jackson County — 40.2%
- Cass County — 34.0%
Doctors believe 70% to 80% of people need to be vaccinated before we reach immunity to minimize spreading the virus.
If you need a vaccination, text a zip code to GETVAX (438829) to get information about the closest place to get a vaccination. The option is also available in Spanish by texting a zip code to VACUNA (822862).
In seconds, you’ll have several locations to get a vaccine, which vaccine is available, and information about making an appointment, or if you can simply walk-in for a shot.
