Governor: No Closure Orders This Time

Cases of COVID-19 are spiking in Kansas, but at the state government level, things are going to happen differently than during the initial part of the pandemic.

Kansas averaged 41 new COVID-19 hospitalizations a day for the seven days ending Monday, according to state health department data, as total confirmed and probable cases for the pandemic topped 500,000.

Governor Laura Kelly said she has no plans to pursue the same aggressive strategy of closing schools and businesses statewide that she did in March 2020, at the start of the pandemic.

Republicans in the Legislature ended a state of emergency in June, and curbed the power of the Democratic governor and even local officials to impose restrictions.

“We have the tools to stop the spread,” Kelly told The Associated Press earlier this week.

“People really do need to not only get fully vaccinated, they need to get the booster shot,” she added.