The University of Kansas Health System is treating a total of 39 COVID patients today, 45 yesterday. Other significant numbers:

• 24 with the active virus today, 29 yesterday
• 6 in ICU, 7 yesterday
• 1 on a ventilator, 2 yesterday

Key points from today’s guests:

Catherine Satterwhite, Ph. D, regional health administrator, Region 7, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

• The medical community will always err on the side of caution. At the beginning of the pandemic, there were a lot of unknowns, so the goal was to keep the population as safe as possible.
• The trust in the messenger can’t be underestimated. Distrust in the safety of the vaccine has been prevalent, even though it has been proven safe and effective.
• Long COVID will still be an issue and we are still learning about it.
• Maternal health was significantly impacted by COVID as maternal deaths spiked due to COVID and limited access to care.
• Dr. Satterwhite is continuing to focus on improved mental and physical health in the community.

Dr. Lee Norman, senior medical director, Optum Care Kansas City

• There was a level of resistance to stay-at-home orders that was unexpected because people were not believing the science. In some cases, that science was being undermined for political causes.
• Words matter. For example, the use of the term “Warp Speed” in Project Warp Speed to deliver a COVID vaccine, many people associated that with it being too rushed.
• We can’t depend on experts and scientific experts alone to communicate – we need more trusted members of the community to help deliver key messages.
• There are too many areas that do not have proper access to care. We should be addressing that now to avoid issues in the future.
• Some parts of social media were disruptive to getting the right information out there. Battling misinformation was a big barrier.

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

• 13 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered throughout the world and it has been shown by data to be overwhelmingly safe and effective.
• It is a modern miracle of science to deliver these vaccines that helped save lives.
• We need to figure out how to avoid the politics when discussing the science.
• We managed a crisis of beds overflowing with COVID patients and the community was able to come together to get through it.
• This was about balance in our lives with choices between taking precautions and still doing normal activities.

Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control, The University of Kansas Health System

• It is important to try to keep kids in school during the pandemic.
• Data supported masking in schools helped reduce the spread of COVID.
• We are starting to see a slight decline in COVID hospitalizations after several weeks at relatively higher numbers, however, ICU numbers continue to be higher.
• We may start to see more seasonality with COVID.

Thursday, March 23 is the next Morning Medical Update. Blood flow problems can literally cost you an arm or a leg. But leading-edge techniques can avoid amputations. Meet a man who's happy to still have a foot,             and the doctor who's determined to save every limb he can.

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