WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The number of people testing positive for the coronavirus in Kansas has increased by 4,706 since last Wednesday.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said the seven-day average of new cases is 538, increasing 179 over last week. The KDHE tests some of the coronavirus cases for variants. Since last Wednesday, there have been 100 more BA.2 stealth omicron variant cases. Of those, 29 of the new cases are in Sedgwick County.

The KDHE reports three more Kansas deaths have been linked to COVID-19, bringing the state’s death toll to 8,946.

There are currently 130 Kansans hospitalized with COVID-19:

• 125 adults
• 5 children
• 20 of the adults are in intensive care

Since the pandemic began, the KDHE has been tracking Kansas children diagnosed with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome associated with COVID-19 (MIS-C). This week, the number of MIS-C cases went from 30 to 49.

KSN News asked a KDHE spokesperson why the number jumped by 19 in one week when it usually only increases by one over several weeks. He said, “Due to reconciliation of 2021 data and data from medical records becoming available, a number of new cases of MIS-C have been identified.”

The state reports almost 16,000 Kansans got vaccinated against COVID-19 in the past seven days:

• 2,270 got their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine
• 2,444 got the second dose
• 11,285 got their third dose

Of Kansans who are eligible to get vaccinated, 67.40% have received at least one dose of vaccine, while 58.93% have completed a vaccine series.