By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A spike in COVID-19 cases, mostly from the mass testing of Triumph Foods workers, apparently has Buchanan County and St. Joseph on the radar of the White House.
NBC News reports documents it describes as originating from the White House pandemic task force listing Buchanan County and the Kansas City area as areas to watch. The documents also list Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska as areas to watch due to a recent rise in coronavirus cases.
The documents indicate federal health officials are keeping a close eye on St. Joseph, especially with the 412 cases arising from the mass testing of Triumph Foods employees. The Kansas City Star reports 70 of those workers testing positive live in the Kansas City area.
Leavenworth County, Kansas also has the attention of federal officials, due to a spike in coronavirus cases, mainly at the Lansing State Prison.
Buchanan County, St. Joseph health officials report 461 total cases, 420 confirmed and 41 probable. There have been two deaths in Buchanan County. Andrew County reports 12 cases; 11 confirmed and 1 probable.
Mosaic Life Care now has tested 3,082 people with 152 testing positive for COVID-19. Ten of those have been hospitalized. Mosaic is awaiting results from 116 tests.
Missouri now has slightly more than 10,006 cases with 524 deaths.
Kansas health officials report 7,116 cases with 158 deaths.