<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/9/1600281548411.png" alt="Brad Yaeger, president of Legacy Bank in Wichita, says federal stimulus money has helped most businesses and individuals make loan payments, but pressure to foreclose or evict people will rise in early 2021 with action by Congress on a new package. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>Brad Yaeger, president of Legacy Bank in Wichita, says federal stimulus money has helped most businesses and individuals make loan payments, but pressure to foreclose or evict people will rise in early 2021 with action by Congress on a new package. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Tests show more than 50,000 Kansans with virus, fatalities rise to 586</h2>By TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2020/09/16/kansas-bankers-wary-of-covid-19-surge-in-foreclosures-evictions-in-early-2021/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — Community banking
 executives advised Kansas legislators Wednesday to be aware of 
potential for dramatic escalation in business and residential 
foreclosures or evictions in early 2021 unless the federal government 
delivers a new COVID-19 stimulus package.Injecting businesses with 
federal disaster assistance and the state’s ban on foreclosures and 
evictions built up a reservoir of economic peril that may be unleashed 
during the first quarter of next year absent a fresh government bailout,
 banking officials told a joint House and Senate committee working on 
economic recovery recommendations.“Be aware of the concerns 
of your counties and your cities,” said Blake Heid, president of First 
Option Bank, a Paola community bank. “They anticipate, if there will be 
problems, seeing issues start to arise with December tax payments. Banks
 would know first or second quarter of next year if past dues start to 
rise.”Brad Yaeger, president and
 chief executive officer of Legacy Bank in Wichita, said actions by the 
Federal Reserve to funnel cash into the economy and multiple rounds of 
stimulus packages, including larger unemployment checks and access to 
business loans, helped companies and individuals make loan payments 
during the pandemic.“However,” he said, “some 
of them have only a little gas left in the tank. Each city has a 
different need depending on the industries that drive their economies, 
but a little tax relief on real estate taxes and income taxes may be 
warranted if a vaccine does not get approved by year end.”The two banks funded a 
combined $59 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans designed by 
Congress to help struggling businesses make payroll and keep people off 
unemployment. Together, these Kansas banks issued more than 900 PPP 
loans that averaged about $65,000 each. Legacy Bank’s smallest loan was 
for $129 and the largest for $2 million.“PPP loans were lifelines for many of these businesses and kept them from closing their doors permanently,” Yaeger said.Kyle Kessler, executive 
director of the Association of Community Mental Health Centers of 
Kansas, said the 26 licensed community facilities providing behavioral 
health services across Kansas must grapple with anxiety and depression 
resulting from job losses during the pandemic.In a Kansas survey, he 
said, the percentage of people who know someone suffering from mental 
health issues has risen 9 points since last year.However, he said the 
state’s safety-net clinics have reported a reduction in the number of 
new patients compared to this time last year.“Some believe a whiplash 
effect may occur where the system will see a significantly high number 
of new patients in a short amount of time when people feel safer to seek
 treatment in person,” Kessler said.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/9/1600281606326.jpeg" alt="Kyle Kessler, executive director of the Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas, are worried about a surge in patients once people become more comfortable seeking in-person treatment for anxiety and depression. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>Kyle Kessler, executive director of the Association of Community Mental Health Centers of Kansas, are worried about a surge in patients once people become more comfortable seeking in-person treatment for anxiety and depression. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>He recommended the 
Legislature consider requiring the Kansas Department of Health and 
Environment begin approving Medicaid-financed therapy without the 
patient physically present at a clinic. It’s a useful tool for helping 
youth and others enrolled in Medicaid while their parents, foster 
parents or other caregivers aren’t part of the program, he said.Derek Schmidt, the 
attorney general for Kansas, suggested the House and Senate committee 
work on revising the Kansas Emergency Management Act to make it a more 
effective tool during a “widespread, long-lasting sometimes highly 
intrusive government response to disasters such as the pandemic that 
affects the state unevenly.”He said limits imposed by 
Gov. Laura Kelly regarding closure of businesses and limits on in-person
 gatherings proved to be a blunt instrument. Those steps did little to 
contain the public health crisis, the attorney general said, but fueled 
the economic crisis.“Even now, the hangover 
from those earlier, centrally ordered statewide lock downs, and the fear
 they will return, continues to stir debate and foster uncertainty in 
our state,” Schmidt said.Kelly has said repeatedly 
it wasn’t her intention to again direct businesses to close in an 
attempt to restrain spread of the virus. It was a pledge that helped 
convinced Republican leaders in the Legislature to concur last week with
 the governor’s request to extend the state’s emergency disaster 
declaration.So far, KDHE reports, 
there have been 50,870 positive tests for the virus, 2,516 
hospitalizations and 586 fatalities in Kansas since March.Tim Carpenter has reported on Kansas for 35 years. He covered the Capitol for 16 years at the Topeka Capital-Journal and previously worked for the Lawrence Journal-World and United Press International.&nbsp;

Kan. bankers wary of COVID-19 surge in foreclosures, evictions in early 2021