The number of COVID-19 patients at The University of Kansas Health System today is down one today. 35 patients are being treated for the virus, down from 36 yesterday. 16 of those patients are in the ICU, same as yesterday. Six patients are on ventilators, same as yesterday. The hospital discharged five recovered COVID-19 patients but admitted four new ones. Doctors noted the length of stay for each patient is decreasing. They also say the health system has the bed space, PPE and drugs to handle 40-45 COVID-19 patients.
Randy Watson, KS Commissioner of Education, joined the update to discuss COVID-19 safety for teachers and help answer some of their questions. He says “Science is driving all of the decisions.”Also joining the conversation, Dr. Greg Nawalanic (Nuh-wall-nick), a psychologist at The University of Kansas Health System’s Strawberry Hill Campus, with tips for teachers on their anxieties about going back to school and staying safe.
Dr. Watson explained how his department has been focused on safely getting kids back to school…in whatever form that may be. He says it will differ in each county depending on how widespread their disease is. He believes some districts will have all students in classrooms, while others will have a hybrid of in-person learning and online learning with flexible scheduling. He also says schools with classrooms of 30 students will need to do things differently than those with ten students. He understands teachers miss their students, but many are fearful about returning. He believes all schools will be safe as long as everyone wears a mask, social distancing is observed, handwashing is frequent and temperature screening is done daily. He noted there should be plenty of federal money in each school district for teacher and staff PPE. He advises everyone to go the his department’s website, kdse.org, to see the guide called “Navigating Change” for more specific guidelines.
Dr. Nawalanic understands the anxiety of both parents and teachers. He says it’s vital we try to understand everyone’s point of view as there’s lots of emotion on both sides. He says it’s important to trust the system. He advised parents to have practice mask runs with their kids at home for a few hours at a time before school starts so it won’t be new to them in the classroom. He also had advice for teachers to deal with their anxiety and talked about ways they can help the kids keep their masks on during class.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of infection prevention and control at The University of Kansas Health System, had advice for teachers about the kinds of masks they should use. He says the medical N95 mask is not necessary and that any cloth or surgical mask will work. He plans to send his two school-age children back to the classroom, confident they will be safe. He stresses we have the best minds and resources behind a vaccine and believes as long as there’s a culture change around mask wearing and personal responsibility, we’ll make it until the vaccine is ready.
Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health System, reminded us that pandemics are hard, they go on a long time and “wear at our soul.” He believes instead of looking at each other as the enemy, we all need to be on the same team and treat COVID-19 as the enemy. He believes hope is really important, and points out the hope of a vaccine, even as early as October or November, as something to keep us going. He says we’ll make it as long as we all practice the pillars of infection control every day.
Chelsey Smith from The Community Blood Center also joined live from a blood drive at the Health Education Building at the KU Medical Center. She said they’ve been on “the struggle bus” since March, consistently operating with less than a three-day supply of blood, something nobody at the organization can ever remember happening. She says it’s mostly due to a lack of their regular blood drives, and it’s a nationwide problem. To donate, Smith says visit their web site savealifenow.org and register.
Thursday, July 23 at 8:00 a.m. is the next daily briefing call. Allen Greiner, MD, Medical Officer for the Unified Government Public Health Department teams up with his Deputy Medical Officer, Erin Corriveau, MD to talk about the recommendations they are making to public schools to keep everyone safe while learning.
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.