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Dear Friend:
The Kansas “stay at home” strategy is working to flatten the curve of Covid-19 cases. Governor Kelly has announced an extension of the state's stay-at-home order to May 3. Kansas has not yet reached its infection peak, however the rate of infection is below states that have not issued stay-at-home orders. We are flattening the curve, but it is too soon to throw open the doors to business as usual.

Johnson County has started random testing. The first round just ended and found that 2.7% of those tested had the COVID-19 virus. The next round of random testing is next week.  Here is a link to Johnson County Health and Covid-19: https://www.jocogov.org/coronavirus-covid-19-testing-johnson-county
 
For daily updates from the governor, tune into her press conferences each day (usually at 2 PM) on
Senator John Skubal and I will host Kansas Commerce Secretary David Toland for a virtual town hall Wednesday, April 22 at 3:00 PM. He will discuss plans to recover the Kansas economy. Here is your invitation to join us: 
https://zoom.us/j/94986186223?pwd=L212VlEyVzNyRzFDc2dOZ2hMNTc0Zz09 
 
Meeting ID: 949 8618 6223
Password: 723020

About Jan

5th Generation Kansan
3rd Generation State Representative
Retired Fortune 100 Business Consultant
Congregational Care Minister, United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
Husband to Jeanne
Father of 3 girls
Grandpa to 6

About the 20th

The Rest of the Story...
No doubt, you are hearing about “the legislature” on the news. Remember there is usually more to the story. For example, some reports will say "the legislature" did this, or "Republicans" did that.  That is painting with a very broad brush.  Here is some clarification of recent reports:
  • Just before Easter, the Legislative Coordinating Council (LCC) attempted to overturn the governor’s expansion of the ban on large groups to include churches. I did not support the LCC effort as it would expose more Kansans to the virus. This change was stopped by the Kansas Supreme Court.
    • The LCC is not the entire legislature.  The LCC includes seven members of House and Senate leadership (five Republicans, two Democrats) who have certain duties while the legislature is not in session.
This week, some conservative republican colleagues (43) signed a letter demanding the governor begin planning to re-open the state. While I agree a plan should be in place (such a plan is already being drafted), planning to open too soon is a hasty decision that requires more testing and data. Such political grandstanding is uncalled for and serves to divide rather than to unite Kansas in its fight against the pandemic.  
COVID-19 Update
Yours in service,

Jan Kessinger
State Representative
Kansas House District 20
Serving Overland Park & Leawood
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