The number of active COVID-19 patients at The University of Kansas Health System is steady today. Nine people with the active virus are being treated, the same as yesterday. Of those patients, five are in the ICU, the same as yesterday. Two of those patients are on ventilators, down from three yesterday. Seven other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID-19 but are out of the acute infection phase, a big drop from 18 yesterday. That’s a total of 16 patients, down from 27 yesterday. HaysMed has four total patients, the same as yesterday, with three active COVID-19 inpatients, and one in the recovery phase.
On today’s Morning Media Update we checked in with KDHE Secretary Dr. Norman on the progress with the vaccine rollout, where more Kansans can find it and how combining the two phases is going. He also hinted at when the state might open the vaccinations to everyone.
David Wild, MD, VP of Performance Improvement at The University of Kansas Health System sat in for Dr. Stites and began the program with a look at last year compared with this year. At this time last year, the state of Kansas was seeing 45 new COVID-19 cases a day, which was before the bump from last year’s Spring Break partiers. Today it’s about 200 new cases a day, and with scenes like those in Miami Beach, Florida where a state of emergency was declared because of thousands of maskless partiers, the fear is we could see a big spike across the country, especially with vaccination rates still relatively low.
Dr. Norman said 27 states are now trending in the wrong direction after steady declines in the number of COVID-19 cases. Kansas, he says, is not one of those states. In some of those states, he says 30-40% of positive COVID-19 tests are from the variants. He reminded everyone that the disease is not gone or forgotten. He says the state is picking up the pace on vaccinations with just over a million doses distributed, which moved Kansas past 19 other states in terms of percentage of the vaccine administered. He expects to place an order for 100,000 Johnson & Johnson doses to arrive next week and says, “We’ve not let a single dose slip through our fingers as we try to bring everything we can into the state of Kansas.” He says the first day of the state combining phase three and four vaccine distribution has gone well and he wouldn’t be surprised if the vaccine is opened to everyone in early April. On reports that Johnson County is considering lifting its mask mandate this week, he says it’s premature, especially since only 26 percent of Kansans have received their first dose. That means there are a lot of non-immune people out there. He adds, “Even if your municipality or county says masks are no longer mandated, you can still wear a mask. It’s a free country and masks will never let you down.”
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at The University of Kansas Health System, says we should not be worried about news about the AstraZeneca vaccine that the Data and Safety Monitoring Board is concerned that information the company released on the vaccine yesterday may not be complete. He says that’s exactly how the process should work, and we can be assured that if and when it receives emergency use authorization, it will have undergone rigorous scrutiny to assure it’s safe. He says we’ll all be waiting to hear how the AstraZeneca data looks because we definitely need a fourth vaccine.
Dr. Wild assured people who have side effects from the vaccines that they are normal and show the body’s immune system ramping up. For those immunocompromised patients wondering if they should stop their medication to get the vaccine, he says don’t stop. He points out many such patients receive other vaccinations such as flu, pneumonia and shingles. He advises patients to talk with their medical team before doing anything. He says hospitals around the country are bracing for a possible spike in cases from Spring Break, Easter and Memorial Day.
Wednesday, March 24 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Media Update. We have our Chief Medical Officers back from Advent Health, Liberty Health and Truman Medical Centers University Health. Dr. Larry Botts, Dr. Raghu Adiga, and Dr. Mark Steele will share their thoughts on the upcoming religious holidays, spring break and sports, plus share how their vaccinations are going and patient numbers.
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.