COVID-19 Variant Spreads During Holiday Travel In Kansas

(CTN News) – Health authorities caution travelers to be vigilant about a novel and highly transmissible COVID-19 variant while planning their trips this month.

In the latest update on COVID-19 cases, the University of Kansas Health System disclosed that they have attended to 24 COVID-19 patients this week.

According to Dana Hawkinson, the director of infection prevention and control at the system, the slight rise in cases from the previous week’s 16 cases indicates that the virus is still proliferating in Kansas communities.

Hawkinson emphasized the importance of being cautious and having a plan while traveling and visiting loved ones due to the known circulation of the virus.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported a surge in the HV.1 COVID variant, resulting in an increase in hospitalizations and deaths.

Andrea Garcia, the vice president of science, health, and medicine at the American Medical Association, has also noted the seasonal spread of the virus and the need to monitor the HV.1 variant, which has become the primary cause of COVID-19 cases in the United States in just a few weeks.

The state of Kansas has not been extensively recording COVID-19 cases since the conclusion of the federal COVID-19 emergency declaration.

As the CDC has ceased tracking infection cases, hospitalizations have become the primary measure of COVID transmission.

Despite the overall low number of cases, there have been reports of increasing clusters of cases in Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Kansas. According to CDC data, Kansas has recorded approximately 197 new hospitalizations on a weekly basis.

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