The number of COVID-19 patients being treated at The University of Kansas Health System is up today. 32 people with the active virus are being treated, up from 25 Friday. Of those patients, ten are in the ICU, up from eight Friday. Five of those ICU patients are on ventilators today, down from seven Friday. 36 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID-19 but are out of the acute infection phase, down from 50 Friday. That’s a total of 68 patients, down from 75 Friday. In addition, HaysMed has a total of 15 COVID-19 inpatients, down from 17 Friday, with seven of those active patients and eight in the recovery phase.
On today’s Morning Media Update, a little-known side effect that some breast cancer patients, especially those with a new diagnosis, may experience from the COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Jamie Wagner, Chief, Division of Breast Surgical Oncology and Dr. Onalisa Winblad, Division Director of Breast Imagining, Department of Radiology, joined to help us better understand the side effect and what you need to tell your doctor. It may make a difference on where you get your shot.
Dr. Wagner reports 10 percent of women get swelling of the lymph nodes after the first Moderna vaccination with 16 percent having that symptom after the second. She says enlarged lymph nodes can also come with a breast cancer diagnosis so it’s vital women not put off their mammograms. She notes that since the pandemic began, there has been a 50% decrease in breast cancer diagnoses, but that doesn’t mean the disease has gone away. It just means fewer women, for whatever reason, are getting screened. She emphasizes that even a short delay can make a big difference in the severity of breast cancer. She explained the safety measures the clinics have taken and urges women not to delay their screening mammograms because of worry about COVID-19.
Dr. Winblad says it’s a good idea, if you’ve had breast cancer, to get your vaccination on the non-cancerous side. She says it typically takes about two weeks for the swollen lymph nodes to get back to normal from a vaccine. She adds from an imaging point of view, they are typically able to tell if the swelling is from the vaccine or from breast cancer but may be asked to repeat an image. She says get your vaccination when it’s available to you, and if it’s near the time for your scheduled mammogram, don’t put off that screening.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at The University of Kansas Health System, discussed reports that as many as seven virus variants are in the United States. He says that’s why the CDC is getting away from names, such as the UK or South African variant. He explained it’s normal for coronaviruses to shift all the time, but the current vaccines should still protect us. The best protection for any variant, he says, is to wear a mask and keep socially distant. He also says re-infections are rare. He advised if you had your first vaccine and happened to get the virus before the vaccine took effect, it’s OK to get your second shot on schedule, as long as you are symptom-free. He also says the rapid home testing kits coming this summer could still give false positive or false negative results. The gold standard, he reminds us, is the PCR, or nasal swab.
Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health system, said we’ve seen a huge drop in new COVID-19 cases in the country, from 230,000 a day to 85,000 a day with hospitalizations down as well. He credits the drop to several things. One is the increase of nursing home vaccinations. Another is the fact that about a third of the country has already had the virus, and it’s speculated that they may have been the ones been less likely to wear a mask. And, he says, more people are wearing masks and following the rules of infection prevention. He also pointed out while there have been 400,000 deaths from COVID-19, there have been zero deaths from the vaccine.
Tuesday, February 16 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Media Update. KDHE Secretary Dr. Lee Norman joins us to update the vaccination rollout across the state and answer other questions.
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.
