Six people died of COVID overnight at The University of Kansas Health System, with omicron the dominant strain. That’s 46 deaths in January. Total patient numbers once again hit an all-time high with 215, up from 213 yesterday.

• 117 with active virus today, 133 yesterday
• 27 in ICU, 24 yesterday
• 16 on ventilators, same as yesterday
• 98 hospitalized but out of acute infection phase, 80 yesterday

Today’s panel:

Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer, The University of Kansas Health System

• Kansas now has nation’s highest rising average number of COVID cases per-capita. Rural areas rising fastest.
• Missouri is least vaccinated state in the country
• FDA recently paused antiviral that worked for delta only and was not effective against omicron
• Omicron still kills a lot of people
• Shawnee Mission Schools now requiring masks for all until Feb. 15

Rick Couldry, VP of Pharmacy and Health Professions

• Drug and supply shortages from COVID a problem for hospitals everywhere. The health system is able to handle better than most, but still a day-to-day scramble.
• Sometimes it’s a simple matter of supply and demand, especially with new drugs
• Same kinds of shortages as before COVID, but “on steroids.”

Dr. Sean Kumer VP of Preoperative Services, Transplant Surgeon

• 30 highly-trained traveling nurses temporarily provide relief to clear way to restoring cases in the OR and allowing increased transfers
• Because of staff illness, had to cut surgeries back 50 percent. Recently able to add some back, currently down 25 percent.
• With sick employees returning to work, hope to be back to normal surgery levels in the next couple of weeks.
• Operations are safe because the rooms are the most sterile places in the hospital

Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control

• Too soon to say for sure if we’ll need a booster every six months
• Monoclonal antibody supplies continue to be tight
• We must continue to be very cautious of indoor events such as concerts and football watch parties

            Wednesday, January 26 at 8:00 a.m. we will present another special live news and community briefing with 18 chief medical officers from the metro and across the state. They will paint the picture of why this is the most dangerous time since the pandemic began, as COVID hospital admissions and clinic visits for them continue rapidly rising. We’ll focus on why communities need to rally right now to do something about it. 

ATTENTION: media procedure for joining:

Zoom link: https://kumc-ois.zoom.us/j/7828978628

Telephone Zoom link: 1-312-626-6799, meeting ID: 782 897 8628

TVU Grid link: UoK_Health_SDI

Restream links: Facebook.com/kuhospital

                               YouTube.com/kuhospital

Send advance questions to medicalnewsnetwork@kumc.edu.