Another spike in the number of COVID-19 patients at The University of Kansas Health System today. 34 patients are being treated for the virus, up from 30 yesterday and 22 on Monday. 12 are in the ICU, same as yesterday. Four patients are on ventilators, up from 2 yesterday. Doctors say those numbers include several patients discharged, but seven new admissions since yesterday. They also worry about the supply of critical medications like remdesivir, which helps shorten the length of the illness, and drugs that help keep patients on ventilators comfortable.
KU Chancellor Dr. Doug Girod joined the panel to talk about getting back to campus and how COVID-19 guidelines are working, what is most challenging and expectations for the fall.
Dr. Girod says the University of Kansas has a plan for what he calls the “mass migration” of students to Lawrence in a few weeks…which typically results in a 20 percent population increase for the city of Lawrence. One of the biggest developments is the university will be able to offer free saliva testing for the students. They have also leased a private dorm to house those students who test positive. He says while they can’t stop the disease, the goal is to catch it before it spreads. He described how the 300 classrooms and other campus buildings have been re-engineered to allow for proper social distancing for students, faculty and staff. One of the professors has helped develop a daily self-screening app that will generate a code allowing access to buildings after you’ve proven you did the screening. He also says those staff members who have been working at home since the spring campus shutdown will probably continue to work from home. He also discussed the plan for offering classes online and in person and said the whole situation with sports is “very fluid” and they’re keeping all their options open. He passed along an analogy from a colleague who said “Not wearing a mask in public right now is like drunk driving. It puts both you and others at risk.”
Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health System, noted that when Lawrence closed its bars, the curve was flattened, and hopes that will help keep the disease from spreading campus wide. He also said families need to treat college students who come home a little differently, since they are no longer in their daily social bubble. He also answered the question about whether you’ll still need the vaccine when it’s available if you’ve already had the virus. He says yes.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of infection prevention and control at The University of Kansas Health System, said he’s been working with the Kansas City Royals in helping the delayed baseball season get underway. He says they’re trying hard to get it right and be a model for other sports like youth and school leagues. He says the perception that young people don’t get sick from COVID-19 is wrong, as the age of patients in the hospital is lower now than at the start of the pandemic. He urged everyone to keep safe by continuing to wear a mask and observing all of the other pillars of safe infection control.
Friday, July 17 at 8:00 a.m. is the next daily briefing call. Sonja Bartolome, MD, is the chief quality officer at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who will talk about what’s happening with COVID-19 in Dallas. Also, doctors will answer questions from the community.
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 1-253-215-8782, 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.
