On April 1, 2022, the state of Missouri began recognizing COVID-19 as endemic, according to the Department of Health and Senior Services website. Endemic does not mean the end of COVID-19. In public health, the term endemic refers to the constant presence of a disease within a population or geographic area.
For a majority of the jurisdictions that fall in the Northern and Southern Health Care Coalition area (with the exception of Saline and Johnson counties in Missouri), the state of Missouri COVID-19 dashboard was a primary data source for the Kansas City Region COVID-19 Data Hub’s cases, deaths and test numbers. These data points have since been removed from the Missouri dashboard with the shift to endemic status.
Given this change, the Kansas City Region COVID-19 Data Hub will no longer be updating cases, deaths and test data for the HCC North/South Region. Historical numbers will remain available at this time for retrospective studies.
Hospitalization data continues to be updated regularly.