The number of COVID-19 patients at The University of Kansas Health System is holding steady today. Eight people with the active virus are being treated, up from seven yesterday. Of those patients, three are in the ICU, same as yesterday. One of those patients is on a ventilator, same as yesterday. 14 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID-19 but are out of the acute infection phase, down from 15 yesterday. That’s a total of 22 patients, the same as yesterday. HaysMed reports three active COVID-19 patients today with one in the recovery phase, compared to just one active patient yesterday.
Doctors encouraged people to sign up for one of 8,000 open vaccination appointments at the health system. Anyone who lives or works in Johnson County or lives in Wyandotte County is eligible, whether a health system patient or not. Established patients can register using MyChart. Others can call 913-588-1227 or go to kansashealthsystem.com/vaccine to make an appointment.
On today’s Morning Media Update, Dr. Nancy Stewart, pulmonologist, critical care, and sleep specialist returned with an update on her research around sleep during a pandemic.
Dr. Stewart shared findings from her study of first responders around the world on what she calls “coronasomnia,” sleep problems related to the pandemic. Of the 1,000 who responded, 90 percent reported sleep problems and 50 percent had problems with anxiety and burnout. Those without a significant other also had higher insomnia, anxiety and burnout than those with families at home. African Americans and Hispanics also reported higher rates of those same problems. She says stress in general is up, but the pandemic has made things worse, with higher rates of suicide, divorce and job loss. She agrees with the NIH in calling the sleep problems a “second pandemic.” She has noticed people becoming more hopeful as we slowly get closer to the end of the pandemic but reminds us we’re not there yet. Even without the pandemic, she explained that grief and anxiety can keep us awake at night and mental health problems are just as bad on our sleep as physical problems such as sleep apnea. She describes mental health and sleep problems as like an old married couple, that if one is unhappy the other is unhappy and if one is happy the other is happy. She advises seeking the guidance of your doctor or a sleep specialist who can help you decide if you have acute insomnia, which has gone on for less than three months, or chronic insomnia if it’s been more than three months. She says there are different treatments for both, but adds acute insomnia usually becomes chronic if left untreated. Her best advice for keeping mental health in balance is exercise and eating healthy.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at The University of Kansas Health System, is hopeful that vaccinations for school kids will be ready by the time school starts in the fall. He says there is an effort to get more vaccines into doctors’ offices, which will be important for helping people get vaccinated from someone they know and trust. He believes vaccines will be our way out of the pandemic by reducing hospitalization and death from the virus and from spreading it to vulnerable people in the community. He also explained how the new COVID-19 vaccines are different from vaccines for diseases that have been around for generations like measles and smallpox.
Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health System, calls reports that America could hit 50 percent of adults vaccinated by the end of the week “good news.” But he reminds us we still need about 80 percent to achieve herd immunity, and that includes children. As for vaccine hesitancy, he says, “I think the more we talk about it, and the more success we have, and the fewer problems of side effects, I believe we will see less vaccine hesitancy.” He reminds us there is now strong evidence that you don’t transmit the disease once vaccinated, which should be the reason we want to get vaccinated. He says, “We’re in this together, and to get out of it together, we need to get everybody vaccinated.”
Thursday, April 8 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Media Update. Ophthalmologist Dr. Anne Wishna joins to answer questions about the impact of COVID-19 on our eyes. COVID-19 patients suffer some common eye problems. Dr. Wishna will talk us through those complaints and put it in perspective.
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