The number of COVID patients at The University of Kansas Health System is steady today. 66 patients with the active virus are being treated, the same as yesterday. Only eight are vaccinated, and all eight have significant health problems such as end stage liver disease, solid organ transplant, chemotherapy, lung disease and diabetes. 26 of those patients are in the ICU, the same as yesterday. Just two of the ICU patients are vaccinated, one has cancer and the other is very immunocompromised from a transplant.14 of them are on ventilators, the same as yesterday. 33 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID but are out of the acute infection phase, the same as yesterday. That’s a total of 99 patients, the same as yesterday. The latest COVID deaths in the health system happened yesterday. HaysMed has 10 patients today, down from 16 yesterday. Children’s Mercy has 16 patients, up from 15 yesterday.
Today, another episode of Open Mics With Dr. Stites. Guests were Dr. Chad Cannon, chair and clinical service chief of Emergency Medicine at the health system and Dr. Ryan Jacobsen, EMS physician advisor and medical director of Johnson County EMS. They discussed the impact COVID is having on emergency departments and ambulance services.
Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health System, began by commenting on news that Johnson and Johnson announced a booster of its vaccine six months after the first dose increased COVID protection 900 percent. He cautioned while this sounds promising, so far it’s just coming from the company’s own news release and the information needs regulatory scrutiny to confirm. On news that Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmidt has filed a class action lawsuit to block Missouri school districts from imposing masking rules, he said, “I just hate when politics gets into healthcare.” He said from a strictly medical point of view, there’s no question the real answer is to keep the kids masked at school to prevent widespread transmission and school closings. As to the school districts that approved medical exemption waivers for masks that only need a parent, not a doctor to sign, he calls that, “a parental exemption, not a medical exemption.” With the Kansas City Health Department recently stating the average cost of a young person hospitalized with COVID is $51,000, Dr. Stites said, “Vaccines are a whole lot cheaper than hospitalization, there’s no question. Vaccines are free to everyone.”
Doctors watched a video of the so-called “Milk Crate Challenge,” a video making the rounds showing someone attempting to climb a tall stack of milk crates and falling from the top. Dr. Cannon had one comment. “Please don’t do that.” He says emergency departments are full enough with actual sick patients, and peer pressure stunts like this just add to problem. He also explained how triage in the ED works, and those with lesser or non-life-threatening injuries often must wait in line behind more serious injuries or illnesses. He stresses COVID puts a strain on the whole system, because those patients are sicker and stay longer, which works its way down to the ED when no beds are available. Sometimes patients there wait 6-10 hours for a bed. Some have even had to wait more than a day. He says the mood in the ED is one of frustration because so many unvaccinated COVID patients come in when vaccines could prevent their hospitalization. Dr. Cannon had this recent sad example. “I had a patient last week who chose not to get vaccinated, was very sick, was going to the ICU, and they weeped and cried. And they said, ‘I can’t believe I made this choice of not getting the vaccine, and what it’s going to do to my family, and who’s going to take care of my family?’ And you know, I empathize with this patient, and I’m hoping this patient recovers and gets better and goes out and educates others to not make the same choice they did. But unfortunately, some patients don’t get a second chance. So it’s very hard to see that when you have a choice to get a vaccine that can prevent this escalation of the disease and prevent death.”
Dr. Jacobsen says the jammed emergency departments have a definite effect on ambulance crews on the street. They try to work with patients to bring them to the hospital of their choice, but it’s not always possible when that hospital is full. The number of hospitals being on diversion and closed to ambulances is at record breaking levels. Sometimes, crews have to call three or four hospitals to find one with room for their patient. And once they get there they often have to wait 30 to 45 minutes with the patient on a gurney in what’s known as “wall time” before they can even be seen, which keeps them off the street and able to answer other calls. It’s one thing for a patient with a broken arm, but a matter of life or death for someone with severe trauma from a car wreck or someone having a stroke or a heart attack. He urges people to reserve 911 for real emergencies, not what he calls the “minor stuff.” He adds that if you have access to your own transportation to primary or urgent care to use that, “Don’t call 911 just for a ride.”
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control, says it’s frustrating to still see preventable hospitalizations and deaths from COVID and people who refuse to be vaccinated until it’s too late. He says, “I can’t fathom exactly why, but I think a lot of it is social media. You know there are a lot of political reasons. There are just a lot of reasons why people are still making excuses that they don’t understand why this happened. And they wish they would have gotten the vaccine.” He agrees with Dr. Stites, who said, “The problem is, once it hits you and you realize it wasn’t really a hoax, then it’s too late.” He also suggested people who don’t believe masks work against the virus look at the two studies by University of Kansas researcher Dr. Donna Ginther which shows they do.
Thursday, August 26 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Medical Update. We'll hear from Dr. Stites and three other chief medical officers in the Metro area who say July and August have been the deadliest months so far in the pandemic.
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.
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