So I feel like I should have been keeping track of how many COVID-19 cases there were in KS through this whole thing. For a while I was. Not on the blog, but personally. However, somewhere between 30 and 60 cases, it got to be too much. It was depressing seeing the number of cases climb and see people still being skeptical of whether or not it was real. Also, with each additional confirmed case, it brought back the reality of how serious this virus is and how it's all around us and our city. So I had to stop keeping regular track of the confirmed cases. I get push notifications from my news apps periodically, probably daily, or the current counts. For some reason it's not as depressing anymore as it was. I think I'm coming to grips with it more. I mean, today is 40 days in. 40 days since we've really lived what I considered to be normal life. Where we weren't scared or worried to be around people, there wasn't crazy mad dashes for toilet paper, and we weren't confined to our homes and immediate family. So yeah, I guess I'm just getting more used to this way of life. Anyway, for the sake of history and being able to look back and see where we came from and how things changed, I'm going to start including the daily confirmed cases in my blog when I remember to do it. That way, when I look back, maybe I'll see where our state flattened the curve. Who knows? Also, I'm going to do a little digging and see if I can't find some stats from the last 40 days to kind of fill in some of that information I've been leaving out for a while.
March 6 - 1 confirmed case in Kansas, person had a history of recent travel (Friday, 1 week until Spring Break)
March 9 - This was the Monday before Spring Break started, I continued to go to work for 4 more days.
March 10 - The day I started taking COVID-19 seriously after a conversation with Nate. When I found out how genuinely concerned he was, it changed my entire mindset on it.
*March 12 - 4 confirmed cases*
**(quadrupled in 3 days)
We left for the farm the next day and watched the number of cases slowly climb.
March 15, 2020 - Countryside begins doing online services. The Y closes.
*March 16 - 11 confirmed cases*
*(almost tripled in 4 days)
Mama, the kids, and I were still out at the farm. Daddy, Michael, Sis, and Adam went back to work.
*March 18 - 21 confirmed cases*
*(almost doubled in 2 days)
Governor Kelly announces that school buildings will be closed for the remainder of the school year. State education officials, in collaboration with a team of educators from around the state, begin forming a plan to teach students for the remainder of the school year.
*March 20 - 44 confirmed cases*
*(doubled in 2 days)
*March 23 - 82 confirmed cases*
*(almost doubled in 3 days)
Sunflower teachers drive through Andover neighborhoods to say hi/goodbye/we love you to students. By this point I had stopped keeping careful track of the number of cases in Kansas. In 2 weeks the rapid spread and daily updates were too much for me to handle.
*March 26 - 168 confirmed cases*
*(doubled in 3 days)
Cathy has exposure to a patient who, later, tests positive for COVID-19.
March 29 - Cathy feels tired.
*March 30 - 368 confirmed cases*
*(doubled in 4 days)
Cathy feels something is wrong and sees her PCP.
It was somewhere around this point that I remember the news stations reporting that Kansas could see up to 900 confirmed cases if things continued to trend like they were. As if that would be the high end of the state.
*April 3 - 620 confirmed cases*
*(hasn't quite doubled in 4 days, slowing?)
Cathy calls to tell us she most likely has COVID-19. She is glad Michael has been working from home lately and not been around Uncle Ed to potentially bring it home to us. Michael hasn't been around Uncle Ed since March 25. March 26 is when Cathy had contact.
Dayton spends his 8th birthday in quarantine. Socially distanced (a term I had never heard of before this pandemic) from friends and family. We took a gift to his house and then sang a Happy Birthday Koo Koo Kangaroo song to him from our car.
April 4 - Cathy's test comes back positive for COVID-19. Uncle Ed is presumptive positive.
April 5 - Everyone celebrated Easter at home, in quarantine. Church services were held online.
April 6 - 845 confirmed cases
April 7 - I celebrated my 33rd birthday at home. Michael and the kids spoiled me with gifts, homemade and from Amazon. Michael offered to buy dinner from one of the nice, fancier places I might normally like to go to for my birthday, but half the appeal of those places is the atmosphere. So we ended up getting wings from Buffalo Wild Wings and postponed my fancy birthday dinner date for when quarantine is lifted.
April 8 - 1,045 confirmed cases
*April 13 - 1,386 confirmed cases*
*(Took between 6 and 9 days to double, definitely seeing a slow in the number of confirmed cases)
April 15 - Stimulus Check received ($3,400)
April 16 - 1,588 confirmed cases
April 17 - 1,705 confirmed cases
(117 new daily cases)
April 18 - 1,790 confirmed cases
(85 new daily cases)
April 19 - 1,849 confirmed cases
(59 new daily cases)
April 20 - 1,986 confirmed cases
(137 new daily cases)
April 21 - 2,025 confirmed cases
(39 new daily cases so far
8 days, has not yet doubled again)
April 22 - 2,211 confirmed cases
(186 new daily cases)
Uncle Ed and Cathy both test Virus Free! Now that they're ok, I feel comfortable putting this information on here. I will also add information to the day we found out they (or Cathy rather) were confirmed positive (and presumptive positive).
April 23 - 2,482 confirmed cases
(271 new daily cases)
President Trump, in a briefing, suggests injecting with disinfectant to cure COVID-19. 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️
*April 24 - 2,777 confirmed cases*
(295 new daily cases)
New daily cases are going up quite a bit the last few days... I wonder if that has anything to do with Easter a week and a half ago?
*Took 11 days to double the number of confirmed cases this time. The curve definitely seems to be flattening. Will be interesting to see if it continues to slow, especially since Easter.
April 25 -2,912 confirmed cases
(135 new daily cases)
April 26 - 3,178 confirmed cases
(266 new daily cases)
April 27 - 3,328 confirmed cases
(150 new daily cases)
April 28 - 3,491 confirmed cases
(163 new daily cases)
I took a couple pictures at Wal-Mart today to show what it's like to go to the store at this time in life.

You'll have to zoom in to see it, but the cashier has a clear plastic shield between herself and the customer. She's got a mask on, as do the 3 customers you can see in the picture. I don't have a mask, so I'm not wearing one. 😳😷

Workers in gloves and masks. She sanitizes each station between each customer.
April 29 - 3,738 confirmed cases
(247 new daily cases)
Governor Kelly doesn't plan to expand the Stay at Home Order when it expires in a week or so (I don't know the exact date. **Edit** The date is May 3rd at midnight). Sedgwick County medical officials are recommending Sedgwick County continues the Stay at Home order for at least another week. Time will tell what the city officials decide to do.
April 30 - 4,238 confirmed cases
(500 new daily cases)
Holy crap!! 500 new cases in one day?!?!? That can't be flattening the curve! 😳😳😳
Governor Kelly released her plan to reopen Kansas.
May 1 - 4,449 confirmed cases
(211 new daily cases)
May 2 - 4,746 confirmed cases
(297 new daily cases)
May 3 - 5,030 confirmed cases
(284 new daily cases)
May 4 - 5,245 confirmed cases
(215 new daily cases)
The government of Kansas began Phase 1 of reopening businesses and the state today. I watched a youtube tutorial about how to make a no sew mask out of a bandana and ponytails. I'm going out (tomorrow) to get groceries for Connor's birthday and it will be the first time I wear a mask out in public.
May 5 - 5,458 confirmed cases
(213 new daily cases)
*May 6 - 5,734 confirmed cases
(286 new daily cases)
*Doubled in 12 days
This was the first day I wore a mask while going out in public.

May 7 - 6,144 confirmed cases
(410 new daily cases)
We had a birthday party for Connor today, despite the pandemic. We had it outside at our neighborhood park. In all, we ended up have 75 people there. 😳 Needless to say, we'll be quarantining for the next 2 weeks.
May 8 - 6,501 confirmed cases
(357 new daily cases)
May 9 - 6,751 confirmed cases
(250 new daily cases)
May 10 - 6,984 confirmed cases
(233 new daily cases)
Mother's Day spent in quarantine. No fun, fancy Mother's Day brunch with mimosas. No getting dressed up to go to church together. No church photo booth or Muffins with Mom. No bouquet of flowers because we're on day 3 of a 14 day quarantine after having exposure to a lot of people for Connor's birthday and aren't leaving the house. We still had a nice day as a family, and got to see other family members this week. Just another holiday spent in quarantine. (Easter, Cinco de Mayo, Mother's Day, Dayton's birthday, my birthday, and Connor's birthday)
May 11 - 7,116 confirmed cases
(132 new daily cases)
KWCH reports that numbers will no longer be updated daily. New state wide numbers will be released every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at Governor Kelly's 2pm briefing with KDHE Secretary Dr. Lee Norman. This seems to make sense. The first stage of opening the state back up is one week in and the number of confirmed cases continues to rise, but the rate seems to be slowing enough. The number of daily confirmed cases has gone down each day for the past 4 days. That's good news! I'm sure cases will continue to come in, and starting today there was going to be free testing in Wichita, so I'm sure we'll see a jump, but hopefully things will begin to get back to new normal.
May 13 - 7,468 confirmed cases
(352 new cases in two days)
May 15 - 7,886 confirmed cases
(418 new cases in two days)
May 17 - 7,941 confirmed cases
(55 new cases in two days)
Wow!! Significantly lower numbers!
May 20 - 8,539 confirmed cases
(598 new cases in three days)
It's been 14 days since the number of confirmed cases doubled and we're still almost 3000 cases short of that doubling mark. We've been averaging 100-200 new daily cases in the last 10 days or so. Before that we were averaging 200-300 new daily cases. I think our government (in Kansas) has done a good job in closing early and opening slowly. I talked to a colleague yesterday who said the Kansas BOE will have some sort of plan put together about what school will look like next year by July 11th. I'm very anxious to see what their plan is for reopening schools in the fall.
May 25 - 9,218 confirmed cases
(679 new cases in five days)
~136 cases/day
May 29 - 9,719 confirmed cases
(501 new cases in 4 days)
~125 cases/day
June 1 - 10,011 confirmed cases
(292 new cases in 3 days)
Averaging under 100 new cases/day! That's good news! It's been 26 days since the total number of cases doubled last and we still haven't seen it double again. Not to mention, things have been opening back up! All good news! 👍 I'm feeling cautiously optimistic!
June 4 - 10,170 confirmed cases
(159 new cases in 3 days)
~53 cases/day
June 8 - 10,650 confirmed cases
(480 new cases in 4 days)
~120 cases/day
June 10 - 10,812
(162 new cases in 2 days)
~81 cases/day
Went to Wal-Mart a couple days ago and took a few pictures. These things may remain in stores for a while or even forever (though I doubt that). They just seem so strange. New normal, I guess. 🤷🏼♀️


For context, these are at the ends of each aisle to direct traffic one way down the aisle so people don't have to pass one another. I obeyed the signs, but not everyone did. Not sure everyone even noticed them.
June 14 - 11,047 confirmed cases
235 new cases in 4 days
~59 cases/day
*June 16 - 11,419 confirmed cases
372 new cases in 2 days
~186 cases/day
*Doubled in 41 days
The beginning of something else...??

Not sure how well you can see it in this picture, but Costco is requiring all employees and shoppers to wear masks. Not everyone is wearing them correctly, I noticed, as we shopped (many weren't wearing them over their noses), but everyone had them on in some fashion! 👍👍👍
June 22 - 12,465 confirmed cases
1,046 new cases in 6 days
~174 new cases/day
We got as low as 50ish new cases/day. Now we're back in the 100-200 range. It's been about a week now that we've seen the number of cases begin increasing again. The highest it ever got in Kansas was 500 new cases in a single day. It's a little worrisome to see the numbers climbing again. Maybe it's nothing? Maybe it's the result of people being bored taking safety measures and precautions seriously? I don't know for sure. But I'm definitely going to be keeping a close eye on the case counts again...
June 23 - Michael returned back to work at the office.
June 24 - 12,970 confirmed cases
505 new cases in 2 days
~203 new cases/day
June 26 - We left for a 10 day vacation through Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee. We tried to make our stops brief in each location. We wore masks everywhere we went where we would be near other people (who weren't family), even if masks weren't required in those cities, counties, or states. The kids wore their masks everywhere too. Nashville did require masks, though not everyone on the street was wearing them. The two bars we went to required them to enter and one bar took our temps before we were allowed to go inside. We tried to visit mostly outdoor, open-air locations where we could socially distance from others. We came into close contact without masks to 7 people over the course of our trip. Glenn and Linda, Chuck and Shanna, and Sam, Alyssa, and Rowan. Upon returning to home, we're all feeling fine.
July 2 - 16,015 confirmed cases
3,045 new cases in 8 days (didn't keep updating regularly once we got close to vacation, then didn't want the app to crash or post to be lost trying to post on the road)
~380 new cases/day
Going up a lot again. People think the masks are a political thing. Some think a mask is a sign of fear, that those who wear them are mindless sheep, and that masks are a slam against Trump. Others think those who choose not to wear one are intentionally endangering others, selfish, and ignorant. The whole nation constantly seems so divided. It's disheartening.
July 4

July 7 - 17,157 confirmed cases
1,142 new cases in 5 days
~271 new cases/day
Not quite as high of numbers as the last time I updated, but still pretty high. Everything I read says the numbers are growing rapidly again with everything open and people refusing to wear masks. I wonder how cases will climb following the 4th of July weekend?
Michael went back to work today after vacation. They didn't require him to quarantine at all after coming home, despite traveling 2000, over 10 days, to 5 different states and having countless exposures. Sure, we were extremely careful on vacation to keep ourselves self, but I'm still shocked at the company's cavalier response to someone who is potentially infected and is perfectly capable of working from home. Now, I don't think we are infected, but isn't it better safe than sorry if you have the means? 🤷🏼♀️
July 11 - 18,983 confirmed cases
1,826 new cases in 4 days
~456 new cases/day
This is getting out of hand again. At the height of the shutdown, when the most new cases were being reported daily we got up to 500 new cases in a day on April 30th. We are not so far off...
July 13 - 20,303 confirmed cases
1,320 new cases in 2 days
~660 new cases/day
This is, officially, the highest increase in daily cases ever. The highest single day previously was 2.5 months ago. Things had gone down to as few as 50 new cases/day in the state. But now we're seeing unprecedented numbers, with only a month of summer break remaining and the potential of going back to school. Scary stuff. This virus is, obviously, far from over. And while there are plenty of people who are tired of staying home and taking precautions, obviously, now is not the time to slack up on how careful we are. I'm guilty of it myself. I was more scared at first than I am now, but things are much worse now that they were 4 months ago, and only getting worse.
*July 19 - 22,571 confirmed cases
2,268 new cases in 6 days
~378 new cases/day
*Doubled in 4 weeks, 5 days
We're doubling faster now. It took almost 6 weeks to get from 5,700 to 11,400 cases in Kansas. Then, it took less that 5 weeks to add 11,000 more cases. Kansas is labeled a red zone and cases are spreading with little to no resistance. Many Kansans aren't taking this virus seriously and it shows in the way it is spreading through our state. I am worried about what school will look like this year. Governor Kelly issued an executive order (to be signed tomorrow) mandating all students where masks at school during the 2020-2021 school year. She also doesn't want schools to open until after Labor Day, 3 weeks late in our district. New safety protocols for schools include social distancing, hourly hand washing/sanitizing, and taking temperatures for everyone who enters the building.
July 20 - 23,544 confirmed cases
973 new cases in one day
Unprecedented in our state. We may have slowed things down for a little while, but we are still seeing exponential growth. We never got a handle on things. We're still in the first wave. And if we fail to get the first wave under control, I fear for what will happen when the second wave hits.
July 24 - 25,109 confirmed cases
1,565 new cases in 4 days
~391 new cases/day
🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️ The state Board of Education voted 5-5 and will not mandate that the state push start dates back to after Labor Day. Districts may opt to on their own if they so choose. Wichita, 259, decided unanimously to move the start date back. Maggie said Isaac's district in KCK is doing all in person, 5 days a week, or all virtual and parenta will have to decide at enrollment. Maggie's district in KCMO has not made final decisions, but are looking at virtual and hybrid models. Andover has not made any decisions.
July 28 - 26,494 confirmed cases
1,385 new cases in 4 days
~366 new cases/day
Still not great numbers, but at least it's going slightly down. The Andover Board of Education approved to push the school start date back to September 8th, the Tuesday after Labor Day. This will give tea her 3 weeks of service/development days at the beginning of the year to make plans and contingencies for whatever the school year may look like this year. I went to Dillons to grab Starbucks today and was pleasantly surprised to see this sign at the entrance.

At least it's something. If people won't listen to the state officials and county officials refuse to enforce the state mandates, at least the cities and individual businesses are doing what they can to take care of people. I will cou 6ntinue to support businesses who put the health of people first. Dillons is a huge company and not necessarily who I really want to support, but they and Wal-Mart are enforcing masks and I appreciate that. Some people claim they'll shop elsewhere where their "freedoms" aren't being infringed on (by being asked to wear a mask). If that's what it takes to get those people to shop small and shop local, I'm all for it! Unfortunately for them, I think a lot of the small businesses are enforcing this too, so good luck with that. 🤷🏼♀️
Aug. 2 - 29,154 confirmed cases
2,660 new cases in 5 days
532 new cases/day
Aug. 5 - 30,966 confirmed cases
1,812 new cases in 3 days
604 new cases/day
Aug. 7 - 30,992 confirmed cases
34 new cases in 2 days
17 new cases/day
Not sure what happened here, but I'll take it! Here's the graph I've been looking at regularly. It goes back down to 0 every other day because the state issues official counts every other day. So when the numbers are issued, they're higher because they're a 2 day count instead of a daily count. So when the graph starts doing that, you should actually take the reported numbers and divide them in half, as they are the results of 2 days worth of positive cases. However, once the number of reported cases exceeded 1,000, we hit a new high, most infectious time. I'll see if I can find a 7 day rolling average map to add to compare to.



The last graph there just shows the effects that masks have been having in counties who are requiring them vs merely recommending them. While the non-mask counties still currently have fewer cases, the number of cases in the mask wearing counties have dropped dramatically! There are 15 counties requiring masks and 90 counties that aren't. The 15 counties that are make up 2/3 of the state population.
Aug. 13 - Teachers reported back to school. They have 3 weeks and 4 days before students return. At the school-wide professional development there were a lot more questions than answers. Here are a few of the regulations we're looking at going into this school year...
-Mandatory masks for all students, teachers, staff, and guests
-Students have to stay in class groups for every activity (ie: no playing with kids from other classes or grades at recess)
-Students may not go to the art room, music room, or library, those teachers will go to individual classrooms
-Students must be seated 6 feet apart for lunch (our school lunch period, because of smaller groups and cleaning between each group, will be 2.5 hours long each day)
-Everyone will have their temperature checked daily (or multiple times/day)


-We have a quarantine room for students with symptoms, who we suspect may have COVID-19
-Students can't share supplies
-Hand washing or sanitizing once an hour

Also, this is what socially distanced professional development looks like...
Aug. 15 - 34,294 confirmed cases
3,302 new cases in 8 days
~413 new cases/day
Aug. 20 - 36,588 confirmed cases
2,294 new cases in 5 days
~459 new cases/day
Aug. 29 - 42,011 confirmed cases
5,423 new cases in 9 days
~603 new cases/day
*Sept 4 - 45,088 confirmed cases
3,011 new cases in 6 days
~502 new cases/day
*Doubled in 7 weeks and 1 day
Over the last couple days I have taken the kids out for our special back to school days out. Here are some pictures of new signage to help people remember to social distance.


Also, the Lysol wipes are completely gone at Walmart. Shelves looked like this right when the pandemic started. Now, with kids starting school soon, everything is gone again.


Spots on the floor showing exactly how far away to stay from people. I was particularly thankful for these, because almost no one at the zoo was wearing masks. I know it's mostly an open air place, but you are constantly near people. Connor did a much better job keeping his distance for other groups of people than Avery did.
Sept. 6 - 46,151 confirmed cases
1,063 new cases in 2 days
~532 new cases/day
Sept. 13 - 51,720 confirmed cases
5,569 new cases in 7 days
~795 new cases/day

Sept 22 - 55,298 confirmed cases
3,578 new cases in 9 days
~400 new cases/day
Oct 2 - 62,378 confirmed cases
7,080 new cases in 10 days
708 new cases/day
President Donald Trump tested positive for Covid-19 today. This comes 32 days before the 2020 presidential election.
Oct 14 - 70,666 confirmed cases
8,288 new cases in 12 days
~691 new cases/day
Oct 21 - Students A&B not at school, parent(s?) tested positive, students stay home to quarantine
Oct 23 - Student B tests positive (unknown results on Student A at this time), 2 teachers and 14 students are considered exposed and are sent home
Oct 25 - 80,070 confirmed cases
9,404 new cases in 11 days
~855 new cases/day
Nov 8 - 105K confirmed cases
24,930 new cases in 14 days
~1,781 new cases/day
Now that we are over 100,000 cases in Kansas the website I use no longer shows how many hundreds of cases. The number of cases we're having daily is unbelievable!!! It's putting strain on our hospitals.
Nov 16 - 125K confirmed cases
20K new cases in 8 days
~2,500 new cases/day
Astronomical.

Kansas numbers are getting so out of hand, maybe I should go to a smaller sample and focus on Andover. The school district releases these numbers weekly. I'll start posting these graphics regularly. For now, let me summarize:
Week 1: 5 positive cases district-wide
Week 2-6: 1 new positive case/week district-wide
Week 7: 9 new positive cases district-wide (including one at our school)
Week 8: 22 new positive cases district-wide, 197 new isolations
Week 9: 27 new positive cases district-wide, 178 new isolations
Week 10 (released today): 36 new positive cases district-wide, 293 new isolations
Nov 22 - 138k confirmed cases
13k new cases in 6 days
~2,166 new cases/day
Nov 29 - 155k confirmed cases
17k new cases in 7 days
~2,529 new cases/day
It's crazy to think that last spring and summer the highest things got was around 500 new cases/day. Now look where we are. 🤦🏼♀️
Dec 10 - 184k confirmed cases
29k new cases in 11 days
~2,636 new cases/day
Dec 23 - Two COVID-19 Vaccines are now available, Moderna - NIAID vaccine (18 and older) and BioNTech - Pfizer vaccine (16 and older)
Dec 28 - Second round of stimulus checks approved in Congress. This round gives $600 to everyone, adults and kids alike. Our household will receive $2,400.
Dec 31 - 225k confirmed cases
41k new cases in 20 days
~2,050 new cases/day
Things (generally) slowed down a little at the end of the year. The curve seems to be flattening a bit. This is very good news, as our hospitals are extremely full. In 9-10 months of this virus in our nation, our state ended up with 225k people infected 7.7% of our state population. In that same time, we had 20,448,700 cases in the United States 6.2% of our population. Hopefully 2021 will bring lower numbers and a speedy end to this madness.
Jan 14 - 255k confirmed cases
30k new cases in 14 days
~2,143 new cases/day
Jan 25 - 272k confirmed cases
17k new cases in 11 days
~1,545 new cases/day
Under 2,000 cases/day, first time in 2.5 months. A good sign, but is it enough? We'll see. I am in the Phase 2 group, K-12 school staff, and am officially eligible to receive the vaccine. However, the supply is so limited right now, it's nearly impossible to get an appointment. The phase 2 roll-out began last week and there were only 100 Vaccines available in Butler County. I don't know when I'll be able to get it, but hopefully soon.
Jan 28 - 276k confirmed cases
4k new cases in 3 days
~1,333 new cases/day
I got signed up today to get my COVID-19 vaccine. My appointment is Feb 3rd at 4:55pm. I will be the first one in our family to get the vaccine, both our immediate family and extended family.
Feb 2 - 280k confirmed cases
4k new cases in 5 days
800 new cases/day
First time we've averaged under 1,000 cases/day in 3.5 months. Winds of change? President Biden seeks to distribute Vaccines to pharmacies in an effort to get more people vaccinated more quickly as production of the vaccine continues to increase.
Feb 3 - Getting my first COVID-19 vaccine today. 11 months after this insane pandemic began.
Feb 14 - 289k confirmed cases
9k new cases in 12 days
750 new cases/day
According to KDHE 9.4% of the Kansas population is currently vaccinated against COVID-19. Nationally, 11.2% have received at least their first dose, where 3.9% have received both doses. Not close to herd immunity yet, but for the vaccine having only been out for about 7 weeks, not too bad. 🤷🏼♀️
March 1 - 297k confirmed cases
8k new cases in 15 days
~533 new cases/day
Lowest daily numbers since September. Definitely looks like we're on the downhill slide! 🤞

March 14 - 301k confirmed cases
~308 new cases/day
March 21 - 303k confirmed cases
~286 new cases/day
March 24 - Sedgwick County rescinded their mask mandate and other pandemic initiatives and restrictions today. While I do think we're headed in the right direction, I worry about this choice. Sure, businesses can still request patrons wear masks, but I'm sure fewer and fewer people will be wearing them. I don't think we're out of the woods yet. Our kids aren't vaccinated yet, and I probably won't be taking them out as much again until our community is closer to heard immunity. Their masks don't protect them, they protect other people. And I just can't put my faith and trust in others to wear their masks in order to protect my kids. So I guess we'll start quarantine 2.0 now... Also, to update on Vaccines...
I am fully vaccinated.
Nick, Maggie, and Glenn are fully vaccinated.
Michael, Sis, Mama, Daddy, and Linda have their first vaccine.
Nathan and Adam haven't had any vaccine yet.
None of the kids are vaccinated.
Like I said, moving in the right direction, but this isn't over. I know people are desperate to get back to the normal we have before this pandemic, but rushing into that normalcy will only put us 2 steps back. I hope I'm wrong. But in case I'm right, we'll keep our kids home from here on out.
April 7 - 306k confirmed cases
~176 new cases/day
April 8 - Michael got his second vaccine!
April 16 - 308k confirmed cases
~222 new cases/day
April 22 - 309k confirmed cases
~167 new cases/day
May 12 - 313k confirmed cases
200 new cases/day
This week the FDA approved emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine for kids ages 12-15.
May 24 - 315k confirmed cases
~167 new cases/day
June 1
As of today, masks are optional for staff and students in USD 385. In many businesses masks are encouraged. In other businesses masks are required for unvaccinated people, but not for those who are vaccinated. Of course, that means everyone has stopped wearing masks. Michael and I have mostly stopped wearing them, but we're still making the kids wear them when we're anywhere near other people in public.
June 19 - 318k confirmed cases
~115 new cases/day
July 24 - 329k confirmed cases
~314 new cases/day
The Delta Variant is more contagious and is ramping numbers back up in unvaccinated people. KCK is mandating masks in school this fall.
July 30 - 334k confirmed cases
~833 new cases/day
Heading in the wrong direction, again. Delta Variant is running rampant through unvaccinated people. K-State and WSU have issued mask mandates for this coming school year. Governor Kelly has reissued mask mandates for government buildings. Will we be wearing masks again this school year? The good news is: No quarantining books this school year! Woooohooooo!!!
August 11 - 346k confirmed cases
1,000 new cases/day
54% of Kansans have at least one shot of their vaccinations
45% of Kansans are fully vaccinated
August 25 - 364k confirmed cases
1,286 new cases/ day
USD 259 reinstated mask mandates at school. USD 385 is using a "Stay to Learn" program. If a student or staff member is unvaccinated and considered a close contact, they can stay in school and do a rapid test for 7 days. As long as they remain symptom free, and tests keep coming back negative, they get to stay at school. The number of cases has doubled again for the first time since December, 38 weeks. That's good, we were averaging 1-2 months, now we're looking at 8.5 months. However, the number of cases are ticking up again. We'll see what happens....
August 29 - 367k confirmed cases
750 new cases/day
Going down... Maybe we'll start peaking and heading back down this 3rd spike. 🤷🏼♀️
September 8 - 384k confirmed cases
1,700 new cases/day
Sept. 19 - 398k confirmed cases
1,273 new cases/day
Sept. 21 - 403k confirmed cases
~2,500 new cases/day
Oct. 2 - 412k confirmed cases
~818 new cases/day
Things seem to be coming back down, and I'm so glad. The Delta Variant has been a beast. Many people are getting it, but mostly only the unvaccinated are being hospitalized and getting it really bad. The rumors are that the vaccinate will be available for kids ages 5-11 in the next couple weeks. Also that kids ages 2-4 will be able to get the vaccine by November. We're SO CLOSE! Really wishing the kids can get vaccinated before we go to Orlando, but that's only 6 days away, so it's probably a long shot. Still crossing my fingers though! 🤞🏻
Nov. 8 - Dax W. tested positive after being a close contact at school and his school having an outbreak. He received his vaccine 2 days prior and only suffers from a stuffy nose so far.
Nov. 9 - Nate McG. started experiencing cold/flu like symptoms today. A home test came back with a positive result. (Lab test later confirmed 11/11)
Nov. 12 - 446k confirmed cases
~850 new cases/day
Avery and Connor got their first vaccine today! Kids (5-11) were approved to get them about 10 days ago. 🙌🏻💉💪🏻


November 29 - 466k confirmed cases
~1,176 new cases/day
Dec. 3 - Avery and Connor get their 2nd COVID shot! Fully vaccinated in only 2 more short weeks!
Dec. 17 - Avery and Connor are FULLY VACCINATED! The CDC now recommends everyone get boosters going into cold and flu season. Michael and I both have had our boosters since mid-November.
Dec. 20 - 501k confirmed cases
~1,667 new cases/day
Dec. 25 - 507k confirmed cases
1,200 new cases/day
Dec. 26 - Went back to church in person. It's been 21.5 months since we've spent a Sunday morning at Countryside. 1 year, 9 months, and 2 weeks since we've been here on the regular. It was hard coming back today. I feel like the church is resistant to science and therefore are less likely to be vaccinated and more likely to come out in public when they don't feel well and spread COVID. It's going to take some time to feel better about the church. I feel like they didn't care about our family, their health, and their safety the last 2 years. I feel hurt by the church and am going to work on healing. I hope each week gets easier to show up.
Jan. 6 - 566k confirmed cases
~4,917 new cases/day
This is DOUBLE the HIGHEST amount of new cases/day since the pandemic began. I knew Omicron was bad, and more contagious than previous variants, but I had no idea how bad it was. And, word on the street is that Omicron hasn't REALLY even reached Kansas. The chart is showing this as a third wave and worse than anything yet. Maybe it's still the second wave, I didn't come all the way down after the beginning of the second wave.

Also, now that our kids are fully vaccinated I let them choose if they wanted to wear masks at school or not. They made it 3 days before Avery was exposed and now we're all back in masks for the next 10 days.
January 19 - Avery tests positive. She's
fully vaccinated, so her symptoms are just a runny nose and cough, more like clearing her throat)

January 21 - 682k confirmed cases
~7,733 new cases/day
*Number of confirmed cases doubles
Recap on Exponential Growth
March 6 - First case in Kansas
March 12 - (4) Quadrupled in 6 days
March 16 - (11) Almost tripled in 4 days
March 18 - (21) Almost doubled in 2 days
March 20 - (44) Doubled in 2 days
March 23 - (82) Almost doubled in 3 days
March 26 - (168) Doubled in 3 days
March 30 - (368) Doubled in 4 days
April 3 - (620) Hasn't quite doubled in 4 days
April 13 - (1,386) Doubled in 6-9 days (I don't have the daily numbers for each day in that time to see exactly what day it doubled)
April 24 - (2,777) Doubled in 11 days
May 6 - (5,734) Doubled in 12 days
June 16 - (11,419) Doubled in 41 days (almost 6 weeks)
July 19 - (22,571) Doubled in 33 days (almost 5 weeks)
September 4 (45,088) Doubled in 50 days (just over 7 weeks)
~October 31 (90,756) Doubled in 57 days (just over 8 weeks)
~December 9 (181k) Doubled in 39 days (6.5 weeks)
~August 24 (362k) Doubled in 38 weeks
I might go ahead and add more info to this blog post daily so there's a single place with all the info. I haven't decided yet. So if this blog keeps getting pushed back to the top of the list, it's probably because I'm adding more info along the way.
