Coronavirus Media Briefing Friday 3-19-21

The University of Kansas Health System reports a lower number of COVID-19 patients today. Eight people with the active virus are being treated, down from nine yesterday. Of those patients, three are in the ICU, same as yesterday. One of those patients is on a ventilator, same as yesterday. 15 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID-19 but are out of the acute infection phase, down from 17 yesterday. That’s a total of 23 patients, down from 26 yesterday. HaysMed has two total patients, down from three yesterday with both being active COVID-19 inpatients.

On today’s Morning Media Update, Amanda Cackler, director of quality and safety at the health system joined Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control and Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer to answer media and community questions.

Here are the media and community questions in the order the panel addressed them, followed by the short answer. See the video for their full answers and comments. Time code for the question is in parentheses.

(2:10) What are your thoughts on Missouri opening up vaccinations for all adults by April 9 and Kansas moving to the next phase on Monday? It’s great news and reflects a growing supply of the vaccines.
(4:50) The CDC just announced new guidance on schools and social distancing that would allow a three-foot rather than a six-foot distance. What are your thoughts on that? Six feet is safer, but the reality is sometimes three feet is unavoidable. It all depends on the activity level of those gathered together and whether everyone is wearing a mask.
(8:15) Last year at the beginning of the pandemic you used to tell us we were only in the bottom of the first inning to give us some perspective of how long a battle we had. What inning do you think we’re in today? Panelists say anywhere from the third to the sixth inning. We still need to get vaccines for children and vaccine companies need to pivot to account for the variants. But vaccines have the potential to be the “closer” to let us finish the game.
(10:27) I had my first Moderna vaccine on February 3 and four days later came down with bronchitis and walking pneumonia. I missed my second dose. What are my options? There’s no data to suggest the vaccine caused those symptoms. It’s not too late to get your second dose, even if you missed the scheduled date.
(11:30) I had the J&J vaccine and the next days I had chills, nausea and now have no voice. Is that normal? It’s the first any of the panelists have heard about losing your voice. The other symptoms are normal.
(13:05) Have any of our patients admitted right now been vaccinated? It’s not currently part of the health system’s admission process to ask but are working on ways to assess that.
(14:00) Do we know if any of the vaccines will help prevent long haul situations? Because the vaccines are proven to decrease the severity of the illness and hospitalizations, the hope is they will.
(15:10) If the Johnson & Johnson vaccine ends up being better with two doses, should people who only got one consider that a setback? If it’s proven better with two doses, it’s not a setback. You can still get a second dose.
(16:55) I've heard you say studies suggest the possibility of infecting others with the virus when vaccinated is growing more remote, but is that also true with the variants? We don’t have enough data to be certain, but England is going to provide good real-world answers because of the B.1.1.7 variant.
(18:00) Is it okay to grow my bubble and be unmasked with others, if everyone is fully vaccinated? Any limits to the size of gatherings? We still need to be cautious. It’s important to take into consideration the level of activities and who you might be taking the virus to at home. There’s no set safe number on the size of gatherings.
(21:10) Once my parents and I are fully vaccinated, can I safely give them a good, long hug? They are in their 80's. One has COPD and the other cancer. This should be safe, especially if everyone wears a mask.
(22:00) I heard steroids and medications to treat compromised immune systems make the shots less effective. Is that true? Should I stop taking them until fully vaccinated? Don’t stop taking your regular medications. Even transplant patients are seeing a benefit to the vaccination. It can depend on your level of immunosuppression so check with your doctor.
(23:50) Is it safe to take the vaccine if you’re on seizure medication? Yes.
(24:10) If I've not had any side effects from the second dose of Pfizer or Moderna, does that mean my shot failed? Shouldn't I feel something? Everyone has a different response. The vaccine still works whether you have side effects or not.
(25:20) Is anyone in the Metro doing genomic sequencing to spot more infectious virus variants? This is currently being done only by the state health department.
(26:40) Do the current vaccines protect against the B.1.351and P.1 variants enough to keep one out of the hospital? The answer isn’t completely known yet, but trial data suggest they are effective and can decrease hospitalizations.
(30:10) North Kansas City Schools are going to give parents the option to let their kids play on the playground without masks. Should I keep my fifth grader in a mask for now? Yes, especially if the child will be coming home to a place where people have not been vaccinated.
(31:25) Are there any concerns with big box stores and grocery pharmacies handling the vaccine with their storage requirements? No, only the professionals who are used to handling medicines are doing so and it makes it easier for people to access the vaccine.
(31:55) Allergy season seems early. If I have a cough, runny nose or cold symptoms can I still go get my shot? Yes, it’s okay to get your allergy shot.

Monday, March 22 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Media Update. We will update COVID-19 vaccine and outpatient therapeutic trials. Vaccine experts Barbara Pahud (pa HUDE – rhymes with rude), MD., MPH, Research Director of Pediatrics Infectious Diseases at Children’s Mercy and Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the KU School of Medicine and Mario Castro, M.D., MPH, Vice Chair for Clinical and Translational Research at KUMC and health system pulmonology and critical care physician will be guests. They will share who is eligible to enroll and answer questions about vaccine trials for children.

ATTENTION: media procedure for calling in:

The meeting is available by Zoom, both video and by phone. To join the Zoom Meeting by video, click https://kumc-ois.zoom.us/j/7828978628

Telephone dial-in Participants: For those without Zoom, call 1-312-626-6799, meeting ID: 782 897 8628.

The feed is also available via TVU grid. The TVU source is UoK_Health and is being made available to all.

Feel free to send questions in advance to medicalnewsnetwork@kumc.edu.

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(2:10) What are your thoughts on Missouri opening up vaccinations for all adults by April 9 and Kansas moving to the next phase on Monday? It’s great news and reflects a growing supply of the vaccines.
(4:50) The CDC just announced new guidance on schools and social distancing that would allow a three-foot rather than a six-foot distance. What are your thoughts on that? Six feet is safer, but the reality is sometimes three feet is unavoidable. It all depends on the activity level of those gathered together and whether everyone is wearing a mask.
(8:15) Last year at the beginning of the pandemic you used to tell us we were only in the bottom of the first inning to give us some perspective of how long a battle we had. What inning do you think we’re in today? Panelists say anywhere from the third to the sixth inning. We still need to get vaccines for children and vaccine companies need to pivot to account for the variants. But vaccines have the potential to be the “closer” to let us finish the game.
(10:27) I had my first Moderna vaccine on February 3 and four days later came down with bronchitis and walking pneumonia. I missed my second dose. What are my options? There’s no data to suggest the vaccine caused those symptoms. It’s not too late to get your second dose, even if you missed the scheduled date.
(11:30) I had the J&J vaccine and the next days I had chills, nausea and now have no voice. Is that normal? It’s the first any of the panelists have heard about losing your voice. The other symptoms are normal.
(13:05) Have any of our patients admitted right now been vaccinated? It’s not currently part of the health system’s admission process to ask but are working on ways to assess that.
(14:00) Do we know if any of the vaccines will help prevent long haul situations? Because the vaccines are proven to decrease the severity of the illness and hospitalizations, the hope is they will.
(15:10) If the Johnson & Johnson vaccine ends up being better with two doses, should people who only got one consider that a setback? If it’s proven better with two doses, it’s not a setback. You can still get a second dose.
(16:55) I've heard you say studies suggest the possibility of infecting others with the virus when vaccinated is growing more remote, but is that also true with the variants? We don’t have enough data to be certain, but England is going to provide good real-world answers because of the B.1.1.7 variant.
(18:00) Is it okay to grow my bubble and be unmasked with others, if everyone is fully vaccinated? Any limits to the size of gatherings? We still need to be cautious. It’s important to take into consideration the level of activities and who you might be taking the virus to at home. There’s no set safe number on the size of gatherings.
(21:10) Once my parents and I are fully vaccinated, can I safely give them a good, long hug? They are in their 80's. One has COPD and the other cancer. This should be safe, especially if everyone wears a mask.
(22:00) I heard steroids and medications to treat compromised immune systems make the shots less effective. Is that true? Should I stop taking them until fully vaccinated? Don’t stop taking your regular medications. Even transplant patients are seeing a benefit to the vaccination. It can depend on your level of immunosuppression so check with your doctor.
(23:50) Is it safe to take the vaccine if you’re on seizure medication? Yes.
(24:10) If I've not had any side effects from the second dose of Pfizer or Moderna, does that mean my shot failed? Shouldn't I feel something? Everyone has a different response. The vaccine still works whether you have side effects or not.
(25:20) Is anyone in the Metro doing genomic sequencing to spot more infectious virus variants? This is currently being done only by the state health department.
(26:40) Do the current vaccines protect against the B.1.351and P.1 variants enough to keep one out of the hospital? The answer isn’t completely known yet, but trial data suggest they are effective and can decrease hospitalizations.
(30:10) North Kansas City Schools are going to give parents the option to let their kids play on the playground without masks. Should I keep my fifth grader in a mask for now? Yes, especially if the child will be coming home to a place where people have not been vaccinated.
(31:25) Are there any concerns with big box stores and grocery pharmacies handling the vaccine with their storage requirements? No, only the professionals who are used to handling medicines are doing so and it makes it easier for people to access the vaccine.
(31:55) Allergy season seems early. If I have a cough, runny nose or cold symptoms can I still go get my shot? Yes, it’s okay to get your allergy shot.