The number of COVID-19 patients at The University of Kansas Health System remains steady today. 11 people with the active virus are being treated, the same as yesterday. Of those patients, five are in the ICU, up from four yesterday. Two are on ventilators, up from one yesterday. 18 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID-19 but are out of the acute infection phase, up from 15 yesterday. That’s a total of 29 patients, up from 26 yesterday. HaysMed has two active COVID-19 inpatients, with one in the recovery phase, up from one yesterday.
Today marks the 250th Morning Media Update. U. S. Senators Jerry Moran from Kansas and Roy Blunt from Missouri joined to look back over a year of this pandemic and take a look ahead.
Senator Moran pointed out how he and Senator Blunt serve on the Appropriations Committee, which has helped organizations such as the NIH, the CDC and the FDA make significant strides in fighting COVID-19. He’s pleased to see many veterans being vaccinated, though some have said they want their spouse or caregiver to get the vaccine as well. He helped introduce legislation yesterday to allow that to happen. He feels we need to do a better job of utilizing the vaccines we have as we anticipate many more doses becoming available. He also is working on a committee to help bring broadband access to more rural communities, which he says is vital, especially for school kids and for access to telehealth. He also said he’s on a committee which is taking another look at liver allocation, which changed drastically in the past year to allow livers donated in the Midwest to be shipped across the country. He reminded us the vaccines are making a difference and are the key to getting back to normal.
Senator Blunt wanted to reassure those who might be vaccine hesitant that the vaccines are completely safe, having gone through every scrutiny and step of approval before being given the current authorization for use. He thinks everyone should have the vaccine but does not believe the government should require it. He hopes by early to mid-summer enough of us will have been vaccinated to achieve herd immunity and allow a return to more normal times. He explained how he’s been a champion for those with mental health problems, especially due to the pandemic, and discussed how mental health has a substantial impact on other health costs. Teens especially, he said, have been under more stress by not being in school and isolated from friends and have been coming to emergency departments much more often with mental health challenges. He also feels the vaccines need to be made available to as many people as possible, so they don’t have to travel long distances to get their shots.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at The University of Kansas Health System, said he hopes we don’t need another 250 episodes of the Morning Media Update before the pandemic is over. He says we can continue to reduce the amount of infections and the daily impact, both physical and mental, that COVID-19 is having, but it takes continued behavioral changes along with the vaccinations.
Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health System, says we need to take the lessons learned from the pandemic about good public health measures and remember them for the future. He reminds us there is going to be so much more vaccine available in the coming weeks and advises everyone not to be anxious about waiting. In the meantime, he advises us all to remember the rules of infection prevention, which are proven without a doubt to keep us safe.
Thursday, March 18 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Media Update. We dive deep into telehealth. We'll talk about supply and demand, benefits to patients and providers and what the future could hold as well as what you can do to help. Our experts include Jason Grundstrom, Executive Director of Continuum of Care here at the health system, Dr. Keith Sale, our VP of Ambulatory Medicine and Dr. Phillip Newlin, Chief Medical Officer Ascension Medical Group Via Christi.
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
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