<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/4/1588175688546.png" alt="A health care worker at a drive-through coronavirus testing center in April in Garden City. Corinne Boyer / Kansas News Service" />
 <figcaption>A health care worker at a drive-through coronavirus testing center in April in Garden City. Corinne Boyer / Kansas News Service</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>As the neighboring states of 
Missouri and Colorado begin to lift restrictions, the governor of Kansas
 is making plans to do the same. But it's unlikely to be business as 
usual with the coronavirus still sticking around.</h2>By ERICA HUNZINGER &amp; ALEX SMITH <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-04-28/what-kansas-might-do-to-reopen-after-the-coronavirus-shut-it-down">Kansas News Service</a>After six weeks of asking Kansans to stay at home, Gov. Laura Kelly 
is expected to announce Thursday that the state will start to reopen for
 businesses and some public gatherings on May 4.Even if people 
can travel at-will and previously non-essential retailers can open their
 doors, the governor likely will leave some restrictions in place and 
maybe enact new rules.Other states that have started reviving 
their economies amid record unemployment claims will stick with social 
distancing measures. And Kelly said earlier this week that control over 
stay-at-home orders will return to the county level to keep COVID-19 
clusters from growing.“I’m confident that our … public health 
officials are keeping a close eye on what’s going on in their 
communities,” Kelly said this week, “and that as we lift up the 
statewide (order, they will superimpose other restrictions if they feel
 that’s necessary to protect their folks.”The ability to test for
 the virus and trace the path of the virus — two things both Kelly and 
the head of the state health department head said are needed to reopen —
 remain sorely lacking. Kansas, at times, has <a href="https://www.kcur.org/2020-04-20/kansas-ranks-lowest-in-coronavirus-testing-which-could-make-it-harder-to-reopen-economy" target="_blank">ranked last in the U.S.</a> for testing during the pandemic. “If
 you are only testing a small portion of the people who may have the 
virus, then you don’t really know what’s going on with the virus,” said 
Josh Michaud, an infectious disease expert with the Kaiser Family 
Foundation.About one in 1,000 Kansans have tested positive for 
COVID-19 so far. While the rates of infection statewide seem to be 
slowing in the most populous counties of Wyandotte, Johnson and 
Sedgwick, the rate of transmission in western Kansas has dramatically 
spiked in three counties with meatpacking plants. Ford and Seward 
counties are home to just a fraction of the population you’d see in 
Kansas’ suburban and urban counties, but the two rank in the top 5 
counties for the raw number of confirmed coronavirus cases.But 
Kelly and state health secretary Lee Norman said this week that 
hospitalizations and deaths are going down. They also said the metrics 
are lining up to the point that they’re “comfortable” with starting to 
reopen the state. Plus, the testing rate in Kansas has increased from 
4,765 during the first full week of April to 7,523 last week.“We 
will, without question, continue to see an uptick in the total number of
 cases as we do more testing,” Norman said. “That’s going to be a 
challenge in how to communicate that to people, because it looks like 
things are getting worse than the case count, but it’s not in reality.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/4/1588175773427.png" alt="Most businesses will be able to reopen once Kansas lifts the stay-at-home restriction, though it’s not clear whether concert venues like The Bottleneck in Lawrence will be included. Erica Hunzinger photo" />
 <figcaption>Most businesses will be able to reopen once Kansas lifts the stay-at-home restriction, though it’s not clear whether concert venues like The Bottleneck in Lawrence will be included. Erica Hunzinger photo</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>The view from other states</h2>Kansas officials haven’t 
provided many details yet on what the recovery plan will look like for 
businesses or residents, though a filing <a href="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/40/75/8e866c7542e5ba19527ae1d9be66/042520-churchsettlement.pdf" target="_blank">in a federal case over the weekend</a> noted that the new restrictions “will be significantly less restrictive than those currently in place.”The National Governors Association provided <a href="http://nga.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/NGA-Report.pdf" target="_blank">a list </a>of 10 steps that state leaders should take. Georgia, South Carolina and Mississippi already have reopened.Closer to Kansas, Missouri will lift its statewide stay-at-home order on May 4, but things will resume in <a href="https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/missouri-reopen-businesses-next-week-local-rules-still-apply#stream/0" target="_blank">“gradual” and “strategic”</a> phases. The <a href="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/d2/cd/bf4334024839828f9e835141f121/missouri.Reopen.Phase1.pdf" target="_blank">initial stage</a>
 lets businesses open if the 6-foot social distancing recommendation can
 be followed “in most cases,” as well as taking other measures like 
occupancy limits and split shifts to protect employees and patrons. 
Missouri also will not restrict the number of people who can gather as 
long as “necessary precautions” and social distancing happen.On Friday, <a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/health/2020/04/27/coronavirus-covid-19-update-iowa-gov-kim-reynolds-daily-briefing-shutdown-reopening-state-plan/3031798001/" target="_blank">Iowa will let businesses</a>
 in nearly 80% of its counties start operating again. The counties must 
have fewer or no new cases of COVID-19 over two weeks. Restaurants, 
gyms, stores and libraries can let in 50% of usual capacity.There
 will be no restrictions on religious gatherings in Iowa as long as they
 follow social distancing and health guidelines, but events are limited 
to 10 or fewer people. Kelly similarly had restricted religious 
services, an executive order that was upheld by the state Supreme Court.
 But she was sued in federal court by two Baptist churches in April, <a href="https://www.kmuw.org/post/kansas-gov-kelly-strikes-court-deal-churches-hints-easing-coronavirus-shutdown" target="_blank">and recently compromised </a>by promising a new executive order allowing large gatherings.Colorado will phase things more slowly under a <a href="https://www.cpr.org/2020/04/26/as-colorado-stay-at-home-order-expires-polis-issues-new-rules-for-what-can-open-what-cant/" target="_blank">“Safer At Home”</a>
 doctrine, which still doesn’t allow more than 10 people to gather at a 
time. Colorado started allowing curbside pickups at retail stores 
earlier this week, and will let in-person shopping starting Friday. Up 
to half of an organization’s staff can work together starting May 4, but
 businesses must screen workers for symptoms if they have more than 50 
employees at any location.Colorado counties can extend 
stay-at-home orders, which Kelly said will happen in Kansas, too. The 
stay-at-home order in Kansas City, Missouri, lasts through May 15. <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-04-27/faq-when-and-how-cities-and-counties-in-missouri-and-kansas-will-reopen" target="_blank">Johnson and Wyandotte counties</a> are expected to follow Kansas’ apparent lead and lift them on May 4.<a href="https://www.kmuw.org/post/sedgwick-county-ready-reopen-business-and-health-leaders-disagree" target="_blank">Sedgwick County leaders</a> are debating what’s best for Wichita — the state’s biggest city — and its surrounding communities.Wichita
 Regional Chamber of Commerce board chair Junetta Everett wrote to the 
county commissioners, saying they were “encouraged by the data” and that
 decisions “can be smart and safe while still addressing the critical 
challenges businesses and workers are facing right now.”But the 
Medical Society of Sedgwick County wants commissioners to extend the 
stay-at-home order locally through at least May 10 because the county 
hasn’t “demonstrated a robust program of testing” and isn’t on the 
downslope of cases.“Though our cases are not increasing 
exponentially,” the panel wrote to the commission, “it is unknown 
whether the peak has occurred in Sedgwick County.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/4/1588175813028.png" alt="Kansas officials say anyone who has symptoms can be tested.&nbsp;Nomin Ujiyediin photo" />
 <figcaption>Kansas officials say anyone who has symptoms can be tested.&nbsp;Nomin Ujiyediin photo</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Testing and tracing</h2>Widespread testing for the 
coronavirus is a major component of reopening guidance from the White 
House and epidemiologists across the country and the world.Kelly 
said testing “is the only way that we can safely reopen our economy.” 
Kansas State University announced this week it would test any student or
 staff or faculty member with symptoms or exposure to someone with a 
confirmed case of the virus. Norman said that Kansas has the ability to 
test everyone who is symptomatic.The World Health Organization 
recommends testing enough people until 10% or fewer of tests are 
positive. Twelve percent of Kansas’ coronavirus tests are coming back 
positive, a figure that’s slowly increased during April, according to 
data from <a href="https://covidtracking.com/" target="_blank">The COVID Tracking Project</a>. (Kansas is lower than the 19% positive national test rate.)A new study from <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/27/coronavirus-many-states-short-of-testing-levels-needed-for-safe-reopening/" target="_blank">Harvard researchers</a>
 says Kansas needs to test 265 more people daily by Friday in order to 
have solid data on the spread of COVID-19. The Harvard researchers said 
their testing goals were shaped in part by what might be possible, 
rather than ideal.Without tests, Michaud with the Kaiser Family 
Foundation said, Kansas could be blindsided by another increase in cases
 and forced to restart dramatic efforts to mitigate the impact of the 
virus.“You might not even realize that there’s an increase going 
on until it’s very far along, ” he said. “We’d be back to square one.”Experts,
 including Norman at one time, have been interested in tracking 
antibodies — essentially how many people have been infected. The New 
York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/26/health/can-antibody-tests-help-end-the-coronavirus-pandemic.html" target="_blank">reported</a>
 antibody tests can be inaccurate and it’s not clear whether having the 
antibodies means you’re immune to the coronavirus. The World Health 
Organization has advised against relying on antibody tests to make 
reopening decisions, and <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2020/04/qa-on-covid-19-antibody-tests/" target="_blank">the tests </a>aren’t widely available.A
 more helpful measure is contact tracing. That entails teams of people 
identifying new cases, finding who those testing positive have been in 
contact with. Then, the system would put people in isolation who either 
contracted the virus or were exposed to it.Norman said this week 
that people are being trained to do contact tracing in Lyon, Ford, 
Finney and Seward counties. The last three are the epicenter of <a href="https://www.hppr.org/post/update-coronavirus-clusters-grow-rapidly-three-western-kansas-meatpacking-counties" target="_blank">both the Kansas beef-processing industry and major COVID-19 clusters</a>. The state said more than 350 cases have been confirmed in meatpacking facilities.However, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/04/28/846736937/we-asked-all-50-states-about-their-contact-tracing-capacity-heres-what-we-learne" target="_blank">an analysis by NPR</a>
 shows Kansas currently doesn’t have enough people to meet the need for 
contact tracing. Kansas is hoping to deploy 400 people overall — 
including some volunteers. That would equal 14 contact tracers per 
100,000 residents, though public health recommendations call ideally for
 30 per 100,000 people.Crystal Watson of Johns Hopkins Center for
 Health Security told NPR that states “shouldn’t undershoot” contact 
tracing, noting that putting money toward the practice will help control
 COVID-19 and reduce further economic impacts.Kansas News Service health reporter Celia Llopis-Jepsen and KMUW reporter Nadya Faulx contributed to this report.Alex Smith is a health reporter for KCUR 89.3 in Kansas City.&nbsp;Erica Hunzinger is the news editor of the Kansas News Service. You can follow her on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/ehunzinger" target="_blank">@ehunzinger</a> or email her at erica@kcur.org.

What Kansas might do to reopen after coronavirus shut it down