Kansas City metro area health officials are grappling with how to handle continuing case count increases after reopening businesses more than two months ago. What you need to know:The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said Monday the state has 78,676 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and there have been 976 deaths since the outbreak started. Kansas is now only updating COVID-19 data on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said Monday that there have been 171,022 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the outbreak and 2,810 deaths. MONDAY6:45 p.m. -- Kansas City Public Schools announced Monday that it will delay in-person classes for its hybrid model because of increasing COVID-19 positivity rates. READ MORE.4:50 p.m. -- The Clay County Health Department said there will be pop-up COVID-19 testing around county this week. Heart to Heart International, Kansas City Direct Primary Care, and Clay County Public Health Center will partner to provide multiple testing events every week, in different areas of the county. This testing will be provided free of charge to those who live or work in Clay County, with or without symptoms. Please view and share the attached flyers for the first two weeks of events.The health department still offers free, drive-through testing in Liberty for all county residents. Learn more at clayhealth.com/testing.A full list of test sites in and around Clay County can always be found at clayhealth.com/testing.3:30 p.m. -- Social media influencers might soon be popping up on Missouri residents' Instagram and Twitter accounts with reminders of ways they can help slow the spread of the coronavirus.The state is asking some popular Missourians to participate in the program to promote social distancing, handwashing and wearing masks on behalf of Gov. Mike Parson, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Monday.Those who agree to participate will not be paid, said Maggie Kost, a spokeswoman for the Department of Economic Development.“The ask is pretty simple; we would like their help encouraging Missourians to take basic precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and get us all back to the things we love,” Kost said.TikTok star Nickolas Ray, a Missouri native with 1.7 million followers, and Jenna Fischer, an actress from Missouri with 3.1 million Instagram followers, have been asked to participate. Other possibilities include former St. Louis Cardinals star Ozzie Smith and Kansas City Royals Manager Mike Matheny, Kost said.The effort comes as confirmed cases of COVID-19 continue to increase across the state. State health officials reported 171,022 newly confirmed cases, an increase of 1,527 from Sunday. Between Oct. 17-23, the state had 11,095 new cases, an average of 1,585 a day, according to state data. Missouri has recorded 2,810 deaths since the pandemic began, five more than on Sunday.3 p.m. -- Kansas is reporting new seven-day records for new coronavirus cases and COVID-19-related hospitalizations. The state hit those high marks as Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly prepared to meet the Republican-controlled Legislature’s leaders following her call for a statewide mask mandate. The state averaged 815 new confirmed and probable coronavirus cases for the seven days ending Monday, the first time the figure exceeded 800 cases since the pandemic reached Kansas in March. The state also averaged 32 new COVID-19-related hospitalizations for the seven days ending Monday. Kelly planned to meet with legislative leaders Tuesday by Zoom. She said last week that she wanted a bipartisan, statewide mask mandate. 2:15 p.m. -- The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 1,527 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the statewide total to 171,022 since the start of the outbreak.There have now been 2,810 deaths across Missouri from COVID-19, which is up five from Sunday’s reporting. The DHSS said that number is not always indicative of deaths that occurred in the past 24 hours. This is based on when information was received and/or entered in the system.[ MISSOURI COVID-19 DASHBOARD]Missouri does not list how many people have recovered from COVID-19.The state said it has tested a total of 2,420,611, and 104,911 were tested in the past seven days. There have been 11,095 positive cases and 65 deaths in the last week.Looking at local numbers, the DHSS reported 14,313 confirmed cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 9,944 cases in Jackson County. The state also lists 2,504 total cases in Clay County, 2,020 in Cass County and 977 in Platte County. 12:30 p.m. -- The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported an increase of 2,446 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in its first update since Friday, pushing the statewide total to 78,676 since the outbreak started.Officials said KDHE’s disease surveillance system, EpixTrax, received an update which has an automated process that was previously done manually. On Monday and Wednesday, health officials said there will be an increase in cases that were part of the weekend update.KDHE officials said Monday the death total grew by one to 976. The average median age of the deaths is 80, which is steady from Friday’s reporting.Health officials said Monday that 3,646 (+62) patients have been hospitalized since the start of the outbreak, 39% of ICU beds are available and 81% of the state’s ventilators are available.The state said it has tested 625,931 people with 547,255 negative test results with an overall monthly positive test rate of 8.4%.[ KANSAS COVID-19 COVID-19 DASHBOARD ]Johnson County continues to have the most confirmed cases in Kansas with 14,581. Sedgwick County is the county with the second most cases with 12,004. Wyandotte County is third with 8,376 cases.Leavenworth County – home to Lansing Correctional Facility – has 2,613 cases, and Douglas County now reports 2,696. The Douglas County case count is largely tied to increases at the University of Kansas.Health officials said the median age of people with COVID-19 is 37, and they are monitoring 235 (+0) active outbreak clusters with 86 clusters reported in long-term care facilities.11:45 a.m. -- The Jackson County Health Department said Monday that around 20 positive COVID-19 cases have been reported and nearly 80 people have been exposed to the coronavirus at three area churches. READ MORE9:30 a.m. -- Lawrence is looking for ways to shelter more than 100 homeless people who are sleeping outside as the city's shelter operates at reduced capacity in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.The Lawrence Journal-World reports that commissioners could consider as soon as Nov. 3 whether to allow schools, event centers, recreation centers and other such buildings to house temporary overnight homeless shelters. Currently, only churches and other religious organizations can operate temporary shelters without a permit. The commission has already approved increasing the occupancy for temporary shelters from 15 to 40.The discussions come after the Lawrence Community Shelter reduced its capacity from 125 to 40 people amid the pandemic. That has contributed to more people camping near the Kansas River and on city parkland.The shelter is working to make changes, too, including adding a tiny home village on the shelter’s property that will house up to 48 people when it opens in May. The shelter also is using federal relief funding to help house people in hotels and move them into permanent housing. The city is using some some of the money for portable trailers that will house facilities for those staying at a temporary campsite.8 a.m. -- Wyandotte County is reporting Monday morning 8,037 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the outbreak started, with 41 patients currently hospitalized and 246 probable cases. The county said 164 people have died from the coronavirus since the start of the outbreak. The county’s COVID-19 report indicates which ZIP codes have the most recent cases. Over a 14-day period, the 66106 ZIP code had 109 cases, followed by 66102 with 89, 66104 with 67 and 66109 with 63.Wyandotte County does not list hospital capacity numbers on its dashboard. 7:30 a.m. -- Johnson County reported Monday morning 13,739 cases of COVID-19 since the outbreak started, 1,492 cases in the last 14 days and 248 cases per 100,000 people in the county over the last 14 days. The county said it has 11,021 presumed recoveries, 192 people have died, and 543 people have been hospitalized since the start of the outbreak. Johnson County said it has tested 148,279 people with 134,540 tests coming back negative.As of Monday, the school reopening gating criteria – the 14-day rolling total used by the county to make recommendations on how schools should reopen – remained in the orange phase and the percent positivity moving average is at 7.4%.The county said it is monitoring 25 outbreaks at senior living care facilities. It also said that 122 people from senior living care facilities have died, which is 65.6% of the deaths in Johnson County. 7 a.m. -- The state of Kansas isn’t officially listing the number of people who have recovered from COVID-19, but local health departments across the state are keeping track. According to numbers from Monday morning, there have been 59,885 people who have recovered from the coronavirus. This includes 10,966 in Johnson County, 6,542 in Wyandotte County, 2,243 in Leavenworth County and 2,531 in Douglas County.[ CLICK HERE FOR MAPS OF COVID-19 CASES BY COUNTY IN KANSAS & MISSOURI ][ TRACKING COVID-19 CURVE OF CASES, DEATHS IN KANSAS & MISSOURI ]SUNDAY4:57 p.m. -- Missouri health officials reported another day of high number of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sunday, continuing a string of several days of more than 1,000 new cases. The state has confirmed 169,495 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began, an increase of 2,043 over reports on Saturday.Missouri reported well over 1,000 new cases on five days between Oct. 16 to Oct. 22 - including 2,421 on Oct. 19. State health data showed 11,102 newly confirmed cases on those dates, for an average of 1,586 per day.On Saturday, 2,918 newly confirmed cases were reported but health officials said those numbers reflected a high number of test and case records that occurred between Oct. 18-22 that were reported and processed Friday.7:30 a.m. -- With the number of coronavirus patients requiring hospitalization rising at alarming levels, Missouri and perhaps a handful of other states are unable to post accurate data on COVID-19 dashboards because of a flaw in the federal reporting system.Since Tuesday, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Service’s coronavirus dashboard has posted a message that the total number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 has been underreported since Oct. 17. The note blamed “challenges entering data” to the portal used by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for collecting daily hospitalizations around the country.It wasn't immediately clear on Friday how many states are impacted since some states rely on their own hospitalization counts, not HHS data collection. HHS did not immediately respond to phone and email messages seeking comment.But The COVID Tracking Project said in a blog post that it has “identified five other states with anomalies in their hospitalization figures" that could be tied to the HHS reporting problem.The project noted that the number of reported intensive care unit patients in Kansas had decreased from 80 to one without explanation. It said Wisconsin’s hospitalization figures stayed unexpectedly flat while other indicators worsened. And it said Georgia, Alabama, and Florida reported only partial updates to hospitalization data.Kansas Department of Health and Environment spokeswoman Kristi Zears confirmed that the “ICU admission data displayed on our website is not current. We did post a notice on our dashboard today to convey that as well. We anticipate the issue will be resolved for our Monday update.”A spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services said the state’s reporting was accurate, with the number of hospitalizations holding steady for one day, Wednesday, before rising again on Thursday. A Georgia Department of Public Health spokeswoman said the department was unaware of any problems with its data. Health department representatives in the other states mentioned in the blog didn’t immediately respond to Associated Press requests for comment.In Missouri, the loss of accurate hospitalization data comes as confirmed cases continue to rise. On Friday, Missouri reported 1,811 new cases of COVID-19, and 31 additional deaths. Since the onset of the pandemic, Missouri has cited 164,534 confirmed cases and 2,688 deaths.Missouri also has seen a steady rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations since September. The state reached record levels of hospitalizations several times earlier this month, with every region except St. Louis seeing record or near-record spikes. Since July 7, when 375 people were hospitalized statewide, that number has nearly quadrupled to a peak of 1,465 hospitalizations on Oct. 14.The problem is especially worrisome in rural areas, where some hospitals are nearing capacity. Others are using makeshift buildings or previously vacant hospital wings to serve overflow patients. Some are simply redirecting people to larger hospitals.State health department spokeswoman Lisa Cox said the federal hospital reporting system, known as TeleTracking, went down. “As a result they experienced underreporting – so hospitalization numbers were lower than they should’ve been,” Cox said in an email.Missouri Hospital Association Senior Vice President Mary Becker said HHS recently implemented changes; some measures were removed from the portal, others were added or renamed. Some reporting hospitals were able to report using the new measures, but others were not, and as a result, the system crashed, she said.“This change is impacting hospitals across the country,” Becker said in an email. “Some states collect the data directly and may not yet be introducing the new measures to their processes. Missouri hospitals use TeleTracking and did not have control over the introduction of the changes to the template.”The last day with accurate data, Oct. 16, showed 1,439 people hospitalized in Missouri, down slightly from the record of 1,465 set two days earlier.7 a.m. -- Kansas has set new records for its largest seven-day increases in new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths. The state has averaged more than 700 new cases a day this month. The figure was a record 768 for the seven days ending Friday, beating the previous high mark of 757 for the seven days ending Wednesday. The state now has reported 76,230 cases for the pandemic, up 1,774 since Wednesday. Kansas also reported 23 additional deaths, to bring the total to 975, with an average of 16.57 a day over the seven days ending Friday. Also, the state averaged 31 new hospitalizations a day for the seven days ending Friday. [ CLICK HERE FOR MAPS OF COVID-19 CASES BY COUNTY IN KANSAS & MISSOURI ][ TRACKING COVID-19 CURVE OF CASES, DEATHS IN KANSAS & MISSOURI ]SATURDAY3:50 p.m. -- The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 2,918 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, bringing the statewide total to 167,452 since the start of the outbreak.There have now been 2,801 deaths across Missouri from COVID-19, which is up 113 from Friday's reporting. The DHSS said that number is not always indicative of deaths that occurred in the past 24 hours. This is based on when information was received and/or entered in the system.[ MISSOURI COVID-19 DASHBOARD]Missouri does not list how many people have recovered from COVID-19.The state said it has tested a total of 2,388,281, and 110, 179 were tested in the past seven days. There have been 10,881 positive cases and 75 deaths in the last week.Looking at local numbers, the DHSS reported 14,117 (+128) confirmed cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 9,765 (+103) cases in Jackson County. The state also lists 2,477 total cases in Clay County, 1,993 in Cass County and 964 in Platte County. [ CLICK HERE FOR MAPS OF COVID-19 CASES BY COUNTY IN KANSAS & MISSOURI ][ TRACKING COVID-19 CURVE OF CASES, DEATHS IN KANSAS & MISSOURI ]FRIDAY6 p.m. -- With the number of coronavirus patients requiring hospitalization rising at alarming levels, Missouri and perhaps a handful of other states are unable to post accurate data on COVID-19 dashboards because of a flaw in the federal reporting system.Since Tuesday, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Service’s coronavirus dashboard has posted a message that the total number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 has been underreported since Oct. 17. READ MORE.3:30 p.m. -- The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services announced Friday that there will be additional free COVID-19 testing at various sites in Missouri in a regular, weekly pattern. These new testing sites are part of national surge testing efforts, and will temporarily increase federal support to areas in Missouri where there have been recent increased levels of new cases and hospitalizations related to the ongoing outbreak.Testing sites:Lee's Summit/Jackson County, Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., (beginning Oct. 29) 616 NE Douglas, Lee's SummitColumbia, Mondays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., (beginning Oct. 26) Memorial Baptist Church, 1634 Paris RoadBranson, Tuesdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., (beginning Oct. 27) Cox Health, 121 Cahill RdSt. Louis City, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (beginning Nov. 3) Affinia Healthcare, 3930 S. BroadwayCape Girardeau, Thursdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., (beginning Oct. 29) Arena Park, 410 Kiwanis Drive2:15 p.m. -- The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 1,811 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the statewide total to 164,534 since the start of the outbreak.There have now been 2,688 deaths across Missouri from COVID-19. The DHSS said that number is not always indicative of deaths that occurred in the past 24 hours. This is based on when information was received and/or entered in the system.[ MISSOURI COVID-19 DASHBOARD]Missouri does not list how many people have recovered from COVID-19.Looking at local numbers, the DHSS reported 13,989 (+85) confirmed cases in Kansas City, Missouri, and 9,662 (+121) cases in Jackson County. The state also lists 2,449 total cases in Clay County, 1,967 in Cass County and 956 in Platte County.12:30 p.m. -- The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported an increase of 1,774 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in its first update since Wednesday, pushing the statewide total to 76,230 since the outbreak started.KDHE officials said Friday the death total grew by 23 to 975. State health officials said the spike can be attributed to a reconciliation of death certificates.The average median age of the deaths is 80, which is steady from Wednesday’s reporting.Health officials said Friday that 3,584 (+78) patients have been hospitalized since the start of the outbreak, 1,001 (+26) were admitted to the ICU, 309 (+11) required mechanical ventilation and 2,518 (+33) patients have been discharged. The state also said it has 36% (-1%) of its ICU beds available and 80% (-2%) of its ventilators available.The state said it has tested 616,262 people with 540,032 negative test results with an overall monthly positive test rate of 8.1%.[ KANSAS COVID-19 COVID-19 DASHBOARD ]Johnson County continues to have the most confirmed cases in Kansas with 14,148. Sedgwick County is the county with the second most cases with 11,550. Wyandotte County is third with 8,216 cases.Leavenworth County – home to Lansing Correctional Facility – has 2,582 cases, and Douglas County now reports 2,662. The Douglas County case count is largely tied to increases at the University of Kansas.Health officials said the median age of people with COVID-19 is 37, and they are monitoring 235 (+0) active outbreak clusters with 86 clusters reported in long-term care facilities.10 a.m. -- Johnson County reported Friday morning 13,420 (+117) cases of COVID-19 since the outbreak started, 1,428 cases in the last 14 days and 237 cases per 100,000 people in the county over the last 14 days. The county said it has 10,785 (+115) presumed recoveries, 190 (+5) people have died, and 536 (+4) people have been hospitalized since the start of the outbreak. Johnson County said it has tested 146,479 people with 133,059 tests coming back negative.As of Friday, the school reopening gating criteria – the 14-day rolling total used by the county to make recommendations on how schools should reopen – remained in the orange phase and the percent positivity moving average is at 6.8%.The county said it is monitoring 16 outbreaks at senior living care facilities. It also said that 122 (+3) people from senior living care facilities have died, which is 64.2% of the deaths in Johnson County. 8 a.m. -- Wyandotte County is reporting Friday morning 7,921 (+31) confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the outbreak started, with 41 patients currently hospitalized and 236 (+9) probable cases. The county said 161 (+0) people have died from the coronavirus since the start of the outbreak. The county’s COVID-19 report indicates which ZIP codes have the most recent cases. Over a 14-day period, the 66106 ZIP code had 117 cases, followed by 66102 with 102, 66104 with 82 and 66109 with 67.Wyandotte County does not list hospital capacity numbers on its dashboard. 7 a.m. -- The state of Kansas isn’t officially listing the number of people who have recovered from COVID-19, but local health departments across the state are keeping track. According to numbers from Friday morning, there have been 59,155 people who have recovered from the coronavirus. This includes 10,670 in Johnson County, 6,542 in Wyandotte County, 2,243 in Leavenworth County and 2,489 in Douglas County.6 a.m. -- Kansas’ coronavirus case count continued to climb, even as one GOP lawmaker pushed back against Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s call for a statewide mask mandate. “I’ve stated all along, and still believe, a one-size-fits-all COVID solution doesn’t work for our diverse state,” Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican, said Thursday in a written statement. “Local leaders have done a great job in dictating local responses after public hearings and discussions with their constituents.”More than 90 of the state’s 105 counties have opted out of the current mask order. That's why Kelly said Wednesday that she plans to speak with House and Senate leadership to work toward a bipartisan mask requirement with more teeth. Her announcement came as the seven-day rolling average of the positivity rate in Kansas rose from 15.04% on Oct. 7 to 20.64% on Wednesday, according to data from The COVID Tracking Project. The seven-day average for new cases also set another record of 757 on Wednesday. And from Monday to Wednesday, the state also added 80 more COVID-19-related deaths, most of them stemming from a review of death certificates, bringing the state’s fatality toll to 952. “Yes, Kansas has been experiencing an increase in cases recently, specifically in the rural parts of our state," said Kristi Zears, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, in an email. “It’s more important now than ever to wear masks, continue to practice social distancing, stay home when sick and avoid large groups of people."But many lawmakers are resistant to imposing statewide restrictions, wanting the decisions left to local officials. Kelly said during a news conference that there would be legislative challenges but that the research was clear: masks work. “People don’t have time for us to wait around for an election to be over with,” Kelly said. “We need to start these conversations. We need to come to a resolution as soon as we can. We know we have a problem, and that’s why we need a solution.”Even in Wichita, the state's largest city, restrictions have been weakened. An ordinance there requiring protective face masks was quietly allowed to expire by the City Council this week. That means control over masks now shifts to Sedgwick County. The county commission has twice rejected mask orders from Kelly, though orders from county health officer have been allowed to stay in place. But police cannot write tickets for violations of the county’s public health order, as they could under the city’s stronger ordinance. The county version can only be enforced through the lengthy procedure of filing a civil lawsuit and obtaining a court order, The Wichita Eagle reports. [ CLICK HERE FOR MAPS OF COVID-19 CASES BY COUNTY IN KANSAS & MISSOURI ][ TRACKING COVID-19 CURVE OF CASES, DEATHS IN KANSAS & MISSOURI ]The Associated Press contributed to this story.