After a big drop in COVID-19 patients over the weekend at The University of Kansas Health System, a big jump today. 24 are hospitalized, up from 15 yesterday. Seven patients are in the ICU, up from 4 yesterday. Three patients are on ventilators, same as yesterday. 24 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID-19 but are out of the acute infection phase. That’s down from 28 yesterday. In addition, Hays Med reports 14 inpatients. Doctors say the seven-day average of COVID-19 cases in the Metro is around 300, while it had been down to 250 a few weeks ago.
On this morning’s briefing, news of a study to test therapies for COVID-19 outpatients from Mario Castro, M.D., MPH, Vice Chair for Clinical and Translational Research at KUMC. Also, Captain John Rule, US Army Epidemiologist joined to talk about the virus spread in our communities post-Labor Day and the start of school.
Until now, treatments for COVID-19 patients have been only for those sick enough to be hospitalized. But Dr. Castro announced KU Medical Center is enrolling patients newly diagnosed with the virus to test a therapy for outpatients. It’s called the ACTIV-2 trial and the Medical Center is one of about 40 sites around the country taking part in the phase 2/3 clinical trial. The goal of the medicine, he says, is to reduce symptoms and length of illness and keep patients from getting sick enough to be hospitalized. He said it will involve a one-time IV infusion of the drug which takes about an hour. They want to enroll 50-75 patients in the Kansas City area. To sign up or get more information, call Luigi at 913-588-4022. Dr. Castro also had an update on the COVID-19 vaccine trial which was recently put on hold.
Captain Rule discussed the state’s recent decision to identify where clusters of the virus were occurring, and why the state put a hold on that decision. He also expects as we get deeper into fall, more Kansas schools will have to go to all online or hybrid classes. The worry is the mortality rates of April and May could return this fall. He also explained the concern over the high infection rates of states near Kansas and said most of the top 10 highest infected states are from the Midwest. He said the state is working on a plan to distribute a vaccine as soon as it’s available.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of infection prevention and control at The University of Kansas Health System, discussed recent confusion over whether the COVID-19 virus is airborne, like the measles. He says it is not. It spreads by droplets from person to person. He says that’s why it’s so vital to wear a mask and keep six feet apart from others. He noted hospital workers, because of the precautions they take, have much lower infection rates than the general public and there have been no confirmed cases of hospital patients spreading the disease. He also said singing in church with a mask on is not ideal, but still better than without a mask.
Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer of the health system, said we won’t know until October or November how the opening of schools has been and whether we’ve kept COVID-19 at bay. He reminds us the virus is still out there and we can all reduce our risk by observing the pillars of infection prevention. Those pillars need to go everywhere with us and will keep us safe. Doing nothing, he says, will land more of us in the hospital.
Wednesday, September 23 at 8:00 a.m. is the next morning media update.
Dr. Stites will be live on the road in Hays, Kansas. The virus is spreading in smaller communities and we’ll be talking more about that with HaysMed Hospital Administrator Eddie Herrman and Dr. Heather Harris. In the studio with Dr. Hawkinson will be Emergency medicine physician Dr. David Lisbon who will update the different waves of this pandemic.
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.
