By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has extended the state's Stay Home order until May 3, but what comes after that? A group of Republican legislators sent her a letter asking for her plan. Among them is Rep. Paul Waggoner.
"People need to know, what are the metrics?" Waggoner asked. "There's a real ambiguity as to what is considered bad enough. That's even framed poorly. The initial point of bending the curve was that we didn't want to overwhelm our hospitals."
To this point, actual hospital usage hasn't been that large of a problem in Reno County.
"If you took away the issue with personal protective equipment, that seems to be an issue that seems to be kind of getting solved and you took away the issue with having test kits available, to make that more freely," said Waggoner. "Frankly, those two things have been the issues that have been more scary to people."
The problem is that those issues, at least in terms of supply chain, really haven't gone away long-term. Waggoner is looking at it from a health care resource perspective.
"It would be nice if we had a metric," Waggoner said. "As long as the numbers are, you know, it's less than this many people that have it, in a serious fashion or have to be hospitalized, we'll continue loosening. If it gets above that, or noticeably above that, we'll have to go back to some other level."
Legislative leadership has not decided if or when they will return to wrap up the 2020 session.