The number of COVID-19 patients at The University of Kansas Health System continues to hold steady today. 12 people with the active virus are being treated, down from 13 yesterday. Of those patients, four are in the ICU, down from five yesterday. Two of those patients are on ventilators, same as yesterday. Eight other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID-19 but are out of the acute infection phase, up from seven yesterday. That’s a total of 20 patients, the same as yesterday. HaysMed reports a total of three COVID-19 patients today, up from two yesterday, with two active and one in the recovery phase.
On today’s Morning Media Update, we talked about prom and graduation on both sides of the state line. Dr. Kenny Southwick, executive director of Cooperating School Districts of Greater KC First, discussed results of a survey sent to area school districts. Dr. Joe Gilhaus, director of secondary schools for the Shawnee Mission District and Nicole Kirby, director of communication services at Park Hill also joined to share how they plan to do both prom and graduation this year.
Dr. Southwick and his organization surveyed dozens of school districts on both sides of the state line for their input on how to handle prom and graduation this year. Most schools canceled prom altogether last year, and many skipped or delayed traditional graduation ceremonies. The consensus is to hold prom and graduation this year, though they will look a lot different. The proms range from this weekend to early June, and the goal is to make them both safe and memorable. Many will be held outside, with an indoor backup plan in case of rain. Graduations will also be held in large outside venues such as Children’s Mercy Park and Arrowhead Stadium, weather permitting, with livestreaming for family members who can’t attend in person. Masks and social distancing will be enforced. He says there is a light at the end of the tunnel but it’s not time to take our foot off the gas.
Dr. Gilhaus from Shawnee Mission says they’ve had to say no to their students far too often this past year, and they have sought their input for ways to have safe and memorable proms and graduations. He says some proms will be in large indoor areas like the Grand Plaza at Union Station, and will have staggered attendance times, while others will be on football fields. The students are working with the DJ’s to emphasize line dancing since social distancing will not allow for slow dancing. He also said next week the district will begin vaccinating 1500 students who are 16 and older, which should help mitigate the risk of COVID-19 at both prom and graduation. He says the kids just want to get back to normal, and steps like this will help everyone get there sooner.
Nicole Kirby said in Park Hill, the students were empowered to come up with their own plans for prom, which will be on the football fields and all will be seated in small groups. Masking will also be required. She says the schools are emphasizing proper infection prevention measures for pre and post prom events when the kids are on their own. They will also hold graduation at Children’s Mercy Park with limited attendance and livestreaming available. She says Park Hill is learning a lot from other districts and will use that knowledge to make things safer in post-pandemic life.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at The University of Kansas Health System, said the latest word on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause is it’s now expected to last for about two weeks. He thinks that’s good because it will take that long for investigators to do a deep dive into all of the data and see if the vaccine had anything to do with the six people out of nearly seven million who developed blood clots. He discussed getting the virus after being vaccinated and says it’s still possible, but the vaccine will prevent severe illness, hospitalization and death. He also says there’s no need for healthy teenagers 16 to 29 years old to wait to get vaccinated. He added there is no concern about infertility in either men or women with the vaccines.
Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at the University of Kansas Health System, says it’s interesting to hear us evolve to what the new normalcy will be, especially for school students. He says we’ll all have to seek out what that normalcy is going to be and how we all feel more comfortable. He believes the only way to truly achieve that is to be vaccinated because that is how we stay safe.
Friday, April 16 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Media Update. It’s follow-up Friday where we answer your questions. Because a number of questions continue to come in about the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, we have invited Dr. Kevin Ault, one of our OBGYN physicians who also sits on the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices. He's bringing data as well as insight around the committee's recommendation to the CDC and FDA regarding the J&J vaccine.
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