Governor Laura Kelly Directs Kansas Department of Health and Environment to Require COVID-19 Testing in Adult Care Facilities

~Order introduced to prevent future spread of COVID-19 in adult care facilities~

TOPEKA – Today, Governor Laura Kelly directed the Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Dr. Lee Norman, to issue an order requiring COVID-19 testing in all adult care facilities statewide beginning today, June 18. State-licensed adult care facilities were no longer required to continue COVID-19 testing for staff or residents following the expiration of the state’s disaster declaration.

“We have a responsibility to protect Kansans most vulnerable to COVID-19 – and that includes those working and living in adult care homes, which have been some of the hardest-hit populations,” Governor Laura Kelly said. “While we work to get Kansans vaccinated – we’ll continue to take these commonsense measures to keep our communities safe and healthy.”

The State Health Officer has the authority to issue health orders as medically necessary under K.S.A. 65-101 and 65-128. Under this order, vaccinated staff members at adult care facilities will not be required to get tested. The state strongly encourages all employees to get vaccinated to ensure the health and safety of all individuals.

“This order ensures that vulnerable populations in Kansas’ adult care facilities continue to receive the testing needed to continue combatting COVID-19,” KDHE Secretary Norman said.

The health order will align testing protocols for adult care facilities that fall under state jurisdiction with facilities regulated by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) guidelines. This order has no effect on facility visitation policies.

“Screening, testing, vaccination and good infection control all remain critical to reduce the spread of COVID-19,” KDADS Secretary Laura Howard said. “Dr. Norman’s order is important to maintain the health and wellbeing of residents and other staff members who work in long-term care and the tremendous progress we’ve made in reducing the number of people sick with COVID-19 and the number of facilities with active outbreaks.”

The order will be effective immediately and will remain in effect until otherwise modified or rescinded. Read the full order here.

Governor Laura Kelly Announces $900,000 in Grants to Support Health Care Providers, Increase Vaccinations

TOPEKA – Governor Laura Kelly today announced that $900,000 in grants will support health care providers in their efforts to vaccinate Kansans across the state.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment will provide the Kansas Association of Family Physicians and the Kansas Association of Pediatricians each with a three-year, $450,000 grant, totaling $900,000, for primary care providers in Kansas to hire staff members to support their ongoing efforts to onboard, administer, and advocate for vaccinations.

“With more than 60 percent of Kansans over the age of 18 having received at least one dose of the vaccine, our state is steadily making progress,” Governor Kelly said. “These grants are part of our state’s all-of-the-above approach to pursue every initiative and use every resource to get vaccines into arms, and protect our families, our economy, and our schools.”

The grants will allow primary care providers (PCPs) to hire dedicated staff who will serve as a liaison to the KDHE immunization team, specifically supporting providers in on-boarding, administering, and advocating for vaccinations. The liaison officer’s responsibilities will include:

• Reaching out to PCPs and host webinars to encourage them to get their patients vaccinated
• Increasing COVID-19 vaccine provider enrollment among PCPs and pediatricians
• Providing a “customer service” operation for PCPs facing problems to enroll as COVID-19 vaccine providers and order vaccines
• Facilitating access to traditional and digital communications capabilities which PCPs can leverage to effectively motivate their patients to get a vaccine
• Hosting regular webinars for enrolled PCPs and Pediatricians, where those providers can share best practices and request additional support

As part of the announcement, Governor Kelly today talked with health care stakeholders about the challenges they face in their efforts to vaccinate their communities, and how Kansas can be a better partner in those efforts.

“Our state’s primary care providers are critical to providing broad, ongoing access to vaccines, and play essential roles as trusted advisors to vaccine-hesitant communities,” Governor Kelly said. “I appreciate today’s participants for the meaningful discussion about how Kansas can support providers in their continued vaccination efforts.”

The below photos from the roundtable discussion are available for media use:

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Also Pictured: Governor Laura Kelly; Dr. Marci Nielsen, Chief Advisor for COVID-19 Coordination; Tarah Remington-Brown, CEO of Kansas Academy of Family Physicians; Melissa Hudelson, Executive Director of the Kansas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Kansas Pediatric Foundation; Alice Weingartner, Chief Strategy Officer of the Community Care Network of Kansas; Dr. Jen Bacani-McKenney, Family Physician and President Elect of the Kansas Chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians; Dr. Kristie Clark, Board-Certified Pediatrician and President-Elect of the Kansas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics; Dr. Allen Greiner, Family Physician and Medical Officer for the Wyandotte County Unified Government Health Department; Dan Leong, Chair of the Immunize Kansas Coalition; and Connie Satzler, Project Support Employee at the Immunize Kansas Coalition.

Governor Laura Kelly Sends Letter Urging LCC to Extend Disaster Declaration

TOPEKA – The following is a letter from Governor Laura Kelly urging Senate President Ty Masterson and members of the Legislative Coordinating Council to extend the current State of Disaster Emergency Declaration. View a PDF of the letter here. 

The plan I present to you in this application continues to reduce the number of activities and pandemic emergency executive orders as we move closer ending the emergency declaration. Ultimately, this plan will require extensions from the LCC to August 30, 2021 as outlined below.

Priorities and Objectives to be Completed by August 30, 2021

There are several priorities that continue to need the attention of the State of Kansas and that require an extension of the state of disaster emergency declaration.  First, we need to continue efforts to vaccinate school-aged children to allow schools to resume normal activities beginning this fall.  As of June 11, 2021, Kansas has vaccinated 48,045 (20.1%) of children age 12-17. Based on current projections, we anticipate being able to have between 100,000 (42%) to 118,000 (49%) of this age group vaccinated by the end of August. There was a notable decline in the rate of children vaccinations as school ended for the summer. Vaccination efforts planned around the back to school period of early to mid-August will greatly increase the rate of vaccinations for this age group.

Second, we need KDEM to continue to support the distribution and administration of the COVID-19 vaccine through our mobile clinics.  The Kansas National Guard (“KSNG”) has administered 122,323 vaccines with 4,360 of those being administered since May 28, 2021.  These efforts are directly tied to Executive Order 21-21 through the use of contract nurses who are able to perform vaccinations more easily under the order’s provisions.  These contract nurses have delivered 45,981 vaccines across the state of Kansas.  We continue to receive requests from employers to do onsite vaccination clinics, which is important to continue to vaccinate the workforce.  To date, we have completed vaccine clinics at 47 employer locations across the state.  The total number of employees who have had the opportunity to get vaccinated through this employer-partnership exceeds 40,000 Kansans.  And, as of the writing of this letter, there are an additional 12 employers who have requested vaccination clinics for their nearly 5,000 (total) employees that are being scheduled. We have an additional 20 community vaccination clinics already scheduled between June 12 and July 27, 2021.

Third, we continue to receive resource requests from counties and hospitals that need to be fulfilled.  We have received 5,090 resource requests for personal protective equipment (PPE), supplies, personnel and equipment.  We have delivered 114,234 cases of PPE through these requests.  Since May 28, 2021, there have been 26 requests, totaling 28,976 cases of PPE.  Some of this equipment, such as ventilators, will need to be returned, inventoried, and receive maintenance work.  Having a scheduled ramp-down will give counties and hospitals time to plan and understand that these resources will become unavailable after August 30^th.

Fourth, as outlined below regarding executive orders, we need to continue requiring testing at our adult care homes and underserved populations.  KSNG has tested over 30,603 individuals and transported over 26,304 samples to Kansas Health and Environment Laboratory (KHEL) with 297 of those samples since May 28, 2021. While these efforts will ultimately become part of KDHE’s normal operation, we need to continue to support these efforts through August 30^th.

Without a disaster declaration in place, these priorities and objectives cannot be effectively accomplished. As you know, aside from removing the legal basis for conducting much of these efforts, the federal emergency response funding Kansas receives may be immediately imperiled if the disaster declaration expires. Pursuant to KEMA, the Adjutant General loses his authority to mission assign agencies such as the Civil Air Patrol, Highway Patrol, and others as part of the state response.  These agencies do not have liability protection for work conducted in these efforts absent the emergency declaration.

Additionally, some of our most vulnerable Kansans would lose the emergency allotment of SNAP benefits the federal government provides to states with active COVID-19 emergency responses. Approximately 63,000 Kansas households would be affected by a loss of this additional financial support, and a total of around $14.5 million in additional benefits to those vulnerable Kansans and to our economy would be lost. While many of the elements of our emergency response from last summer are no longer essential, the disaster declaration itself is still essential.

SEOC COVID-19 Activities Closure Timeline

While there are certain activities that need to continue as described above, the list below indicates the mission assignments and activities that have been closed and which ones would be re-opened under an extension of the emergency declaration.

Mission Assignments

* May be extended if emergency declaration is extended.

 ** Has been transferred to KDHE

Non-Congregate Shelters and Supporting Contracts

* This contract cannot be ended prior to July 15, 2021.  Without the declaration extension the state assumes all legal and financial liabilities.

Food & Commodities

Rescinding or Sunsetting Executive Orders

Our administration has worked diligently to enable our state to responsibly pare down the number of pandemic emergency executive orders in place since the beginning of 2021. As of today, only nine pandemic executive orders remain in effect. In my May 24, 2021 application to extend the disaster declaration, I stated that in the weeks and months to come I would consider rescinding additional executive orders. In that continued effort, on June 14, 2021, I will issue an order rescinding all but two of the nine remaining pandemic executive orders. Orders will be rescinded as follows:

The two executive orders I do not intend to rescind at this time are 21-15 and 21-21. Executive Order 21-15 is the only mechanism in place to require COVID-19 testing in certain adult care homes licensed by the state. Without this order in place, the state’s ability to ensure the health and safety of staff and residents at such adult care homes will be severely compromised. Executive Order 21-21 grants temporary authority to certain medical personnel to administer COVID-19 vaccinations. Continued efforts to vaccinate as many Kansans as quickly as possible will be unnecessarily impeded if it expires.

The time to conclude our emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic under KEMA and to transition to a new normal for dealing with COVID-19 through standard authorities is approaching, but that time has not yet arrived. At the LCC’s May 28, 2021 meeting, some LCC members indicated that they wanted to see a plan for how we wind the emergency response down and return to normal. Our administration has now provided that plan. It will take until August 30, 2021, to execute it.

As circumstances have changed, we have transitioned to an emergency response that has been trimmed down to vaccination efforts, logistical support to local communities, finishing an orderly return to normal in state agencies, and securing federal financial support for our efforts.  While COVID-19 could become an ever-present threat to public health if vaccination rates continue to decline, our emergency response will not be permanent. We owe it to Kansans to finish the job and wind down the state of disaster emergency responsibly.

As with the LCC’s previous meeting to consider an extension, at next Tuesday’s meeting Major General Weishaar, Dr. Norman, and members of my staff will be present to answer any questions the LCC may have.

Sincerely,

Laura Kelly

Governor

CC:      Representative Ron Ryckman, Speaker of the House of Representatives

            Senator Rick Wilborn, Vice President of the Senate

            Senator Larry Alley, Senate Majority Leader

            Senator Dinah Sykes, Senate Minority Leader

            Representative Blaine Finch,
Speaker Pro Tem of the House of Representatives

            Representative Dan Hawkins, House Majority Leader

            Representative Tom Sawyer, House Minority Leader

            Gordon Self, Revisor of Statutes