Sedgwick County’s health officer told county commissioners Friday that local hospitals believe they have seen a peak of coronavirus cases.
Dr. Garold Minns spoke during a teleconference that commissioners held to get ideas from the business community about reopening the economy after the COVID-19 virus winds down. Dr. Minns said the hospitals have reported that the peak is “very flat” but the hospitals are feeling good that they’re not going to see a huge surge in cases and they are more comfortable that we can move ahead.
Commissioners are working to finalize a plan for reopening the economy. Dr. Minns said like a patient recovering from an injury, the community has had an injury. He said the virus has been a traumatic incident for the community and it will take time to recover. He said no one is an expert at bringing a community back from a pandemic, and no one has the magic answer, but if everyone works together they can make the recovery work. He said there will be some missteps and there will be some right steps.
County commissioners are expecting to finalize a plan at their April 29th meeting for the next steps in reopening the local economy, but county manager Tom Stolz said the county will have to wait and see what Kansas governor Laura Kelly will do with the stay-at-home order, which is due to expire on May 3rd.
