The number of COVID-19 patients being treated at The University of Kansas Health System is down today. 27 with the active virus are being treated, down from 30 yesterday. Of those patients, eight are in the ICU, down from nine yesterday. Six of those ICU patients are on ventilators today, up from 5 yesterday. 47 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID-19 but are out of the acute infection phase, up from 46 yesterday. That’s a total of 74 patients, down from 76 yesterday. In addition, HaysMed has a total of 19 COVID-19 inpatients, same as yesterday, with nine of those active patients and 10 in the recovery phase.
On today’s Morning Media Update, what if your doctor could prescribe you a pill or give you a shot to treat your COVID-19 symptoms? Dr. Mario Castro, pulmonologist and researcher, joined us to talk about new clinical trial testing three new outpatient treatments that may be game changers for COVID-19 patients. They include an oral pill, an injection and a medication that can be inhaled through a nebulizer.
Dr. Castro brought news of a clinical trial getting underway at KU Medical Center of three new outpatient treatments for COVID-19. These new treatments may make it easier to receive COVID-19 treatment outside a hospital, as they include an oral pill, an injection and a medication that can be inhaled through a home nebulizer. Nearly all COVID-19 patients are eligible for these new trials. There's no need to be older or high-risk to participate. You must be 18 or older, have a positive test within 7 days of enrolling and have active symptoms. To see if you qualify or to enroll, call Luigi at 913-588-4022. Dr. Castro also had an update on the AstraZeneca trial, in which 32,000 people were enrolled, saying it is in the patient follow-up phase and he looks forward to seeing the results soon. He addressed why having asthma doesn’t qualify someone from being higher on the priority list for getting vaccinated. He also said it’s still too soon to know if a vaccine will keep you from spreading the virus to others and says we must continue to wear a mask and keep socially distant.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at The University of Kansas Health System, commented on new CDC guidelines that say if someone has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, they no longer need to quarantine after exposure to someone infected with the coronavirus. He points out the agency did warn that immunity could wear off three months after vaccination, so people should monitor for symptoms and possibly quarantine. He also said the CDC has not changed its guidance to officially recommend we all double mask, and a recent article from the agency focused primarily on making sure masks fit properly. He feels the mask culture in our society continues to improve.
Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health system, credits the drop in COVID-19 cases to better behavior, masking and to some extent, vaccinations. He urges everyone to follow the pillars of infection prevention, which will keep us safe until we can beat the virus.
Friday, February 12 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Media Update. It is our Follow Up Friday as Amanda Cackler is back to help answer media and community 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.
