The number of COVID-19 patients being treated at The University of Kansas Health System continues to hold steady this week. 24 patients are being treated for COVID-19, up from 23 yesterday. Eleven of those patients are in the ICU, same as yesterday. The best news is that 70 patients have been discharged so far.
Joining the panel was U.S. Senator Jerry Moran from Kansas. He spoke about the $310 billion federal aid package just passed to help replenish the fund to aid small businesses. He said $75 billion of that is to help hospitals and $25 billion for more COVID-19 testing. He also told how much of that will go to Kansas. He says no matter how much Kansas gets for testing, it’s not enough as the state still lags behind others in testing. He also believes decisions about when to reopen society must be made at the local level.
Also on the panel was Dr. Jessica Kalender-Rich, a doctor of General and Geriatric Medicine at The University of Kansas Health system. She’s recently been appointed to a Wyandotte County task force on COVID-19 and the senior population and spoke about challenges now and ahead for older citizens living at home or in long term care facilities. She says those patients are the most vulnerable in society, and any change in their routine can have a negative effect in their health. She urges family members to be in as much contact with their loved ones as possible and noted many older adults have become proficient in using iPads and Face Time. She also addressed how long it might be before nursing homes can reopen for visitors.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of infection prevention and control at The University of Kansas Health System says be very wary about buying one of those self-administered COVID-19 tests starting to become available. He says it takes medical professionals lots and lots of training to do it properly and would be very hard to do it to yourself and expect the same result. He also said the big spike in the number of positive COVID-19 tests in Kansas this week is most likely due to more tests being done and shows how much of the virus is still out in the general population. He says accurate antibody testing will be very important…once it’s been proven reliable. He also addressed the question of how long droplets remain in the air after a sneeze.
Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer at the health system, says the next big challenge when reopening society will be personal social responsibility, and making social distancing the new normal. He and all on the panel agree there is concern with doing it too soon. He also says even though The University of Kansas Health System is processing 500 COVID-19 tests a day, there needs to be much more, including more of the general population, so we can get a handle on how prevalent the virus is.
Monday, April 27 at 8:00 a.m. is the next daily briefing call. Joining the panel will be Tammy Peterman, President of the Kansas City Division, The University of Kansas Health System and Bob Page, President and CEO of The University of Kansas Health System to start the conversation of how we plan to keep everyone safe while getting patients scheduled for the procedures, surgeries and other services they postponed during stay-at-home orders.
ATTENTION media members-New procedure for calling in:
The meeting will now be 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:
Call Zoom audio, 1-253-215-8782, 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.
