The University of Kansas Health System reports an increase in the number of COVID-19 patients today. 15 people with the active virus are being treated, up from 11 yesterday. Of those patients, five are in the ICU, the same as yesterday. Four of those patients are on ventilators, same as yesterday. 11 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID-19 but are out of the acute infection phase, same as yesterday. That’s a total of 26 patients, up from 22 yesterday. Doctors think we’re seeing the effects of people gathering more thanks to better weather and looser restrictions.
HaysMed reports a total of two COVID-19 patients today, one active and one in the recovery phase, compared with zero active and two in the recovery phase yesterday.
On today’s Morning Media Update KDHE Secretary Dr. Lee Norman returned to update vaccinations and infection rates. He was joined by Dr. Catherine Satterwhite, regional health administrator for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dr, Satterwhite shared messaging that might prove helpful to folks from different walks of life who are on the fence about getting the vaccine.
Dr. Norman feels we have not been able to open up society as quickly as people would like because, “We haven’t reached a critical mass of vaccinations in order to completely discard masks and social distancing.” He believes as long as we stick with the science and get vaccinated, we’ll see an end to the pandemic sooner rather than later. He stressed that the counties with higher vaccination rates will have less disease and those governments will be able to relax restrictions and open up quicker. He says with the supply of vaccine now exceeding demand, there are fewer mass vaccination clinics and the emphasis is on smaller more mobile clinics and getting the vaccine to private doctors’ offices. He explained why Kansas joined 20 other states in lifting all residency requirements for vaccinations, even allowing people from other states to get theirs in Kansas. He noted that the J & J vaccine will resume distribution in Kansas today and said they would not have allowed it if they weren’t convinced it’s safe. He discussed wastewater testing and how it precedes what we see in the community by a week to 10 days. He says right now the results show about half of the virus in the state is from the variants. He also stressed that the state of Kansas has no plans to require so called “vaccine passports,” requiring a person to prove they’ve been vaccinated.
Dr. Satterwhite explained that there are many reasons why people are choosing not to get vaccinated. One of those is not understanding the value to themselves and to society. Many people still have questions and don’t have the confidence and the answers they need to commit to the vaccine. She says it’s important, not just for the Kansas City area but for the whole country, to knock down those barriers, and she described some of the efforts, including social media, community education and empowering local thought leaders, to do just that. She also says many people need to be reminded that the vaccine is free. She believes taking things to the next phase will happen with diversity and inclusion.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at The University of Kansas Health System, says he’ll be anxious to hear the new CDC guidelines on mask wearing, scheduled to be released later today. He reminded those who think the whole vaccine process was rushed that it happened so quickly because the world threw unlimited resources at the problem, something rarely possible for traditional vaccines. He also believes that the lifting of some restrictions in Kansas City puts us on a “collision course” with optimal medical and public health guidance. He says three things will help us get back to things the way they were in 2019 as opposed to 2020. Those three things are vaccination, masking and social distancing.
Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at the University of Kansas Health System, says, “It’s funny to me we still have to have conversations about vaccinations.” He points to the success of polio and influenza vaccines and wonders why we’re having such a fight with the COVID-19 vaccines. He asks, “Why can’t everyone embrace the science and the knowledge that we’ve been being vaccinated for so many years in so many different ways?” With the health system alone having 14,000 doses to give, he says the time is now to get yours to keep not only yourself but others safe. He says, “Let’s Be KC, we can master this!”
Wednesday, April 28 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Media Update. Anil Gharmalkar, long hauler, and his pulmonologist Dr. Leslie Spikes will be back.
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