The number of active COVID-19 patients being treated at The University of Kansas Health System is lower today. 58 people with the active virus are hospitalized, down from 65 yesterday. 19 patients are in the ICU, down from 24 yesterday. 10 of those ICU patients are on ventilators today, same as yesterday. 60 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID-19 but are out of the acute infection phase, up from 49 yesterday. That’s a total of 118 patients, up from 114 yesterday. One health system patient died since yesterday. In addition, HaysMed has a total of 18 COVID-19 inpatients, down from 21 yesterday, with 14 of those active patients and 4 in the recovery phase. Two patients there have died since yesterday.
On today’s Morning Media Update, Catherine Satterwhite, regional health administrator for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, joined to update us on the vaccination rollout across the region and answer questions.
Dr. Satterwhite works with health departments in Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa and said the number one thing she hears from each is they need more vaccine. She says the federal government distributes it based on state population. She said while there’s always room for improvement, the vaccine distribution is going well and there are not large quantities of doses sitting on shelves. She feels the states are doing a good job of ordering and allotting the vaccine as soon as it’s available. She advised one viewer that it’s not a problem if you live in one state and get your vaccination in another because states share data. She assures us that as soon as supplies are more plentiful, there are plans for more widespread distribution from many different sources.
Nathan Bahr, MD, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Kansas Health System, filled in for the vacationing Dr. Hawkinson. He says the virus variant is now reported in 20 states but not yet Kansas or Missouri. He’s confident that will change soon, and the projection is it will be the primary strand of the virus in about six weeks. He wants to reassure everyone that despite claims that 100 people in California died after taking the vaccine, there have been no reported deaths directly related to the vaccine. He says in all of the cases it was shown that the person died from other medical conditions. He also says allergic reactions to the vaccine are rare. It’s nerve-wracking to him that people are still watching Chiefs games in big crowds, both indoors and outdoors, and urges us all to be responsible. He reminds us we’re all in this together no matter where we live.
David Wild, MD, VP of Performance Improvement at The University of Kansas Health System, filled in for Dr. Stites. He said even though Kansas has just announced Phase 2 of the vaccination plan, which includes those 65 and older, it’s going to take a little time for enough doses to become available. Right now, he told us, the health system is planning a mass vaccination clinic with the goal of giving 10,000 doses a week. He said one third of Johnson and Wyandotte County residents fall into the 65 and older category, and it will take weeks to get to all 150,000 of them. He reported 10,000 doses of the vaccine have been given to health system employees so far, which is 72%, and expects that number will increase. He believes it will be many months from now before 80% of the community is vaccinated, which is what is needed to reach herd immunity. He advises people to get on as many waiting lists as possible because it doesn’t matter where you live as long as you get vaccinated when it’s your turn.
Friday, January 22 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Media Update. Amanda Cackler, director of infection prevention and control, is back to help answer questions from the week that we didn't get to.
ATTENTION: media procedure for calling in:
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