<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/12/1607710594610.png" alt="The number of COVID-19 deaths by day in Kansas. Kansas Department of Health and Environment" />
 <figcaption>The number of COVID-19 deaths by day in Kansas. Kansas Department of Health and Environment</figcaption>
 </figure>By BRIAN GRIMMETT <a href="https://www.kmuw.org/post/second-1000-coronavirus-deaths-kansas-came-5-times-faster-first-1000">Kansas News Service</a>WICHITA, Kansas — The number of Kansans who have died from COVID-19 topped 2,000 on Friday.How
 quickly the state passed that milestone — it took the state seven-plus 
months to lose its first 1,000 people to the coronavirus, and little 
more than a month to lose 1,000 more — shows how quickly the spread is 
accelerating.“There’s just so many more people getting COVID 
right now that inevitably that’s going to lead to more death,” said 
Steve Stites, chief medical officer at the University of Kansas Health 
System.The number of people who die after contracting the 
disease has remained relatively stable at about 1.9% in the U.S. and 
about 1% in Kansas.But the rapid increase in the number of new 
deaths mirrors the increases in new cases. In the past two weeks, the 
state has averaged nearly 2,500 new cases a day.In Kansas, it 
took about six months to go from the first death, to 500 deaths. The 
next 500 took only six weeks. The 500 after that, four weeks. And the 
most recent 500, to get the state over 2,000, took about two and a half 
weeks.● 1 to 500 - 6 months (3/18/20 to 9/11/20) ● 500 to 1,000 - 6 weeks (9/11/20 to 10/28/20) ● 1,000 to 1,500 - 4 weeks (10/28/20 to 11/25/20) ● 1,500 to 2,000 - 2.5 weeks (11/25/20 to 12/11/20)The
 rapid rise takes a toll on doctors and nurses in intensive care units 
who have to watch their patients die, while dealing with grieving family
 members.“It has been palpably more difficult over the last 
month, and even couple of weeks,” said Lewis Satterwhite, a critical 
care physician at the KU Health System hospital.&nbsp;So far, the 
youngest person to die of COVID in Kansas is 18. But young people dying 
from the disease remains rare. Of the coronavirus deaths in Kansas, 
94.4% have come among people 55 or older. The median age is 80.<a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-12-02/its-becoming-increasingly-hard-to-find-a-nursing-home-in-kansas-where-coronavirus-hasnt-shown-up" target="_blank">Nursing homes remain hot spots</a>.
 Two-thirds of all facilities in the state have had confirmed cases. And
 dozens still have to wait up to a week to receive test results from 
backlogged labs.Deaths are pretty evenly split between male and 
female, but have hit Black people particularly hard, with a death rate 
of 61.47 per 100,000 people.Physicians fear that the number of 
daily deaths hasn’t quite peaked yet. Deaths usually lag four to six 
weeks behind spikes in cases.Almost every Kansas county has a 
percent positive testing rate greater than 10%, a sign of uncontrolled, 
widespread community transmission.U.S. Department of Health and 
Human Services regional administrator Catherine Satterwhite said 
reducing the spread of the virus is still the best way to reduce the 
number of deaths.“It’s really important to know,” she said, “that this is not inevitable.”Brian
 Grimmett reports on the environment, energy and natural resources for 
KMUW in Wichita and the Kansas News Service. You can follow him on 
Twitter @briangrimmett or email him at grimmett@kmuw.org.

Second 1,000 virus deaths in Kan. came 5 times faster than first 1,000