The University of Kansas Health System reports another increase in the number of active COVID patients today. 40 with the active virus are being treated, up from 35 yesterday. 17 patients are in the ICU, up from 15 yesterday. Nine are on ventilators, the same as yesterday. 31 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID but are out of the acute infection phase, down from 32 yesterday. That’s a total of 71 patients, up from 67 yesterday. HaysMed has 11 total patients, up from ten yesterday.
On today’s Morning Medical Update, Georgia hospitals are in crisis mode. COVID is taking over their patient load and creating even more nursing shortages. Dr. Amber Schmidtke, Chair of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at University of St. Mary in Leavenworth used to teach at Mercer University School of Medicine in the microbiology and immunology department, and understands what life is like in Georgia. She discussed what we can do right now to avoid ending up in COVID chaos.
Dr. Schmidtke showed evidence of what’s happening in Georgia right now, and it’s one of the biggest COVID hot spots in the country. Delta peaked there over Labor Day, and while cases are down now, hospitalizations and deaths are still up because they lag cases by several weeks. She says the state should expect high numbers for the rest of the month, which is putting an incredible strain on the healthcare system. The main reason, she says, is low vaccination rates, combined with low testing. In her words, “Georgia never really took this pandemic seriously, which is really unfortunate because the CDC headquarters is in Atlanta.” She says there is a significant rural vs. urban divide when it comes to vaccination, which is why big cities like Atlanta are not seeing the same effects as the rest of the state. She also says the state has underfunded public health and did not make it a priority during the pandemic. She adds, “Reduced testing capacity and lukewarm efforts to vaccinate your population is a recipe for disaster. All of this was predictable, but it was also very much avoidable. So I hope the lessons that we’ve learned from Georgia can be applied here to avoid this similar loss of life.” She believes increased vaccinations and testing will keep our numbers down. She’s also thrilled at the prospect of a vaccine for children possibly available next month. She feels a lot of parents want to put this pandemic behind them, and for her, “It won’t be over until it’s over for my children. This is the finish line I’m hoping to achieve.” She says we’re in a tug of war with the virus, and we all need to pull together on the same side of the rope by getting vaccinated and wearing masks.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at The University of Kansas Health System, discussed news that Johnson & Johnson says a second dose of its vaccine will give more protection. He says it sounds promising, but we’ll need to wait till the FDA has time to study the claim. To those worried about what winter will look like with COVID, and a possibly more active flu season, he says the way to protect our communities is to get vaccinated for both, and adds the CDC says it’s OK to get both shots at the same time. He urges parents to get their kids vaccinated as soon as it’s approved so we can keep schools open and parents at work.
Wednesday, September 22 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Medical Update. As travel increases, we hear from Dr. Gary Morsch with the COVID Care Force on how countries are cracking down on regulations. Plus, COVID has had a disproportionate impact on certain ethnic groups, including American Indians. Retired Rear Admiral Keven Meeks joins to talk about how the Chickasaw Nation is protecting their own.
NOTE: Journalists should rejoin the Morning Medical Update at 8am as doctors are growing too busy again for individual interview requests. Please bring questions or send to medicalnewsnetwork@kumc.edu until further notice. Thanks for all you do and helping to keep the community safe with your reporting.
ATTENTION: media procedure for calling in:
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