Two very special guests joined the panel today for the daily media briefing on COVID-19 by The University of Kansas Health System; U.S. Senator Jerry Moran from Kansas and Dr. Lee Norman, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
First, the numbers. 36 patients are being treated for COVID-19, up from 34 yesterday. 15 of those patients are in the ICU, up from 13 yesterday. Several patients have recovered and been discharged and are doing well.
Senator Moran discussed how he’s been appointed to a task force of the federal government that’s working on a plan for advising states on when to return to normal. He says it’s important to note that decisions will be made at the state level. He also says he’ll do everything he can to see that more testing becomes available. He says that will be very important until there’s a vaccine. He also noted a worldwide pooling of resources in order to develop that vaccine. He understands nobody likes the government telling them what to do, but the stay-at-home orders have kept things from getting a lot worse.
Dr. Norman said a planned mass protest for next Monday by those opposed to extending the stay-at-home order is a bad idea from a medical point of view. He says it took just one church gathering in Kansas to cause many new infections and deaths. He explained the worst thing to do is get a large group of people together to spread the virus, which until now, has not hit the metro area as bad as it has other cities. He also says Kansas is on an encouraging trend but has still not seen the peak in COVID-19 cases, which should happen by the end of April.
Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer at the health system, says deciding when to reopen society and the economy is a real balancing act between staying employed and staying safe. He says the rules won’t change once society is reopened…social distancing and good hand hygiene will be more important than ever. He also stressed it’s not right to compare COVID-19 to the flu. He says we don’t see the same number of hospitalizations and deaths from the flu as we’re seeing from COVID-19. He says it’s too soon to know the death rate of this virus.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of infection prevention and control at The University of Kansas Health System cautioned that while many people are anxious for a return to normal, without a very controlled way of taking the foot off the gas, the disease will spread like wildfire. He says it’s been that tight control that’s allowed hospitals in the area to have a relatively low number of COVID-19 patients and build up adequate supplies of protective gear. He says opening society too soon could overwhelm the medical system. Dr. Hawkinson can also be seen on Saturday night at 7:00 during a nationally televised program called One World Together at Home, bringing together artists, health professionals and world leaders. Dr. Hawkinson will be speaking with ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel.
Monday, April 20, at 8:00 a.m. is the next daily briefing call and will include Dr. Damien Stevens, a pulmonary and critical care physician at The University of Kansas Health System. Dr. Stevens recently returned from New York where he spent a week on the front lines helping other doctors care for the overwhelming number of patients being treated for COVID-19. We will also hear from a patient currently hospitalized for COVID-19.
The feed is now available via TVU grid. The TVU source is UoK_Health and is being made available to all. You will still need to call-in to ask questions.
Telephone dial-in Participants:
Dial: 1-913-588-2222, and enter 50041981# when prompted for the Call ID. Feel free to send questions in advance to medicalnewsnetwork@kumc.edu.
