Hospitals across Kansas are buckling as coronavirus cases swell, leading many schools to scale back in-person learning and one county to intensify plans for a possible field hospital.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment added 5,939 cases to the state's pandemic tally since Wednesday, bringing the total to 134,533. That brought the state's seven-day average of new cases to 2,718, just shy of the record but nearly four times higher than it was a month ago.
The number of COVID-19 related deaths also rose by 84 to 1,410. Gov. Laura Kelly told local officials and legislators during a call Friday that health care workers are burned out.
