A slightly lower number of COVID patients are being treated at The University of Kansas Health System today. 56 patients with the active virus are being treated, down from 57 yesterday. Only one of those 56 is vaccinated. 20 of those patients are in the ICU, down from 21 yesterday. 13 of those patients are on ventilators, down from 14 yesterday. 36 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID but are out of the acute infection phase up from 33 yesterday. That’s a total of 92 patients, up from 90 yesterday. HaysMed continues its increase in patients with 17 total today, up from 14 yesterday. Children’s Mercy Hospital reports 18 positive COVID patients, up from 14 yesterday and have diagnosed 6,674 in their hospitals and clinics since the pandemic began in March of 2020.
On today’s Morning Medical Update, the health system is denying transfers daily. Some of the stories we are hearing are heartbreaking. Dr. Tim Williamson talked about how we handle patient volume and transfer requests. He joined Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control to answer community questions we didn’t get to during the week.
Dr. Williamson said the health system is fortunate to have its own transfer center for patients. But he says in 30 years of healthcare, he’s never seen anything like the way the center has been slammed over the last few weeks. Before COVID, 800 to 900 transfer requests a month was normal. Last November, during the previous surge, they had a record 1200 requests. The record was shattered in July with 1500 requests and the health system is on pace for a new record of 2000 in August. He says right now they are having to turn away 70 percent of the requests, which have come from not only Kansas and Missouri but New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, South Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia and Iowa. He wants to be clear that residency or vaccination status have nothing to do with accepting a patient. He says it has everything to do with the patient’s condition and the bad availability at that moment, which changes constantly, and turning away even one patient is hard on the staff. All area hospitals are seeing the same crunch and he admits, while he’s not someone who usually worries a lot, he’s worried about what’s coming, especially in light of recent mass gatherings such as the Garth Brooks concert. If the surge continues, he believes hospitals will have to go into mass casualty mode, with tents in parking lots, and be forced to decide who does and does not get care. His message is simple. Get vaccinated and wear a mask.
Here are the media and community questions in the order the panel addressed them, followed by the short answer. The time code for the question is in parentheses. See the video for their full answers and comments.
- (2:05) If I’ve had the J&J vaccine, is it OK to get a Pfizer or Moderna booster? The CDC is expected to have more information on that in the next few weeks.
- (12:35) If I'm vaccinated and not immunocompromised, what is the risk of eating indoors at a restaurant? The risk of exposure is pretty high, but your risk of severe disease, hospitalization and death is lower.
- (14:05) How serious are hospitalizations now compared to last year? Meaning, how sick are patients and what's the average length of stay? Patients are sicker and younger, with more requests for ECMO, a total heart and lung bypass, which is the very last resort.
- (15:15) My Dad would like to have all his employees vaccinated but has an employee who refuses to get the shot because he claims he's allergic to intramuscular injections. Can you verify if that could be true? There are no contraindications to the vaccine unless you had a serious allergic reaction to the first dose. Injections themselves don’t cause allergic reactions.
- (16:25) I registered for the Rock the Parkway marathon back when it felt safe. I'm questioning whether I should participate now. I'm vaccinated but my two children are not. What are your thoughts? You should be safe since it’s outdoors. The biggest risk is when congregating before and after the run. Wear your mask then.
- (18:20) Air travel and planes have proven to be pretty safe it seems. But are we noticing a change in the effects of mass travel now that Delta has arrived? No big change noticed. All modes of public transportation still have strict masking guidelines. Wearing eye protection is also advised.
- (20:25) What percentage of Kansas City area hospitalizations are Kansas City area residents? No specific data available, but safe to say most are from the area.
- (21:50) What do you say to people who've had COVID and insist their natural immunity is all they need? Even if you’ve had COVID, you still need to be vaccinated, especially if you had the original strain.
- (22:55) Do you think the big vaccine clinics will start to open back up again? We certainly hope so! The challenge is staffing.
- (24:30) I've been seeing articles that this pandemic is shifting to an endemic. Is this true? Would this be for the better or worse? It depends on the behavior in individual communities It’s become a pandemic of the unvaccinated vs. the vaccinated. Those with high vaccination rates will do better than those with low rates. The virus is likely to be in our communities for the foreseeable future.
- (26:50) If I can smell through my mask does that mean it's not working? Should I double up? As long as the mask fits well and covers both nose and mouth it’s OK.
- (29:10) What type of patients do other hospitals need to transfer to our health system? It’s not all COVID patients. Many are still patients with other conditions like heart attack and stroke but are finding it harder to find a bed due to the COVID surge.
- (30:40) Why does it appear Nebraska is fairly untouched by COVID when looking at the various heat maps of the country? There has been a mandate that only counties in that state with more than 20,000 residents report, which is not many of them. It’s not a medical issue but more of a political reporting issue.
- (32:05) What do you tell people who say “People die every day. Isn’t COVID being overblown?” No, it’s not being overblown. Yes, people die every day, but we don’t want preventable deaths. Thanks to the vaccine, COVID deaths are preventable.
- (34:50) People’s children are popping up sick and parents are instantly testing them and getting negative results. Should they try just keeping their kids at home, or wait to test them to see if it’s positive? Testing is always best, especially since they can often be tested for more than one thing at a time, like RSV.
- (36:55) Are children emotionally damaged by wearing masks in school? No, they are adaptable, resilient and have managed the pandemic in an amazing way, often better than their parents.
- (39:55) If someone wakes up with upper respiratory symptoms that mimic allergies that resolve, but the next day they have GI symptoms, should they just isolate themselves or should they go ahead and get tested? It’s always best to get tested, especially with plenty of access to those tests in our community.
- (41:00) Watching the Johnson County Commission meeting yesterday, I saw new case numbers in the region appear to be leveling off. How soon will that translate to the hospital? Hospitalizations follow case numbers by a couple of weeks and deaths follow hospitalizations by a few weeks.
- (42:15) Why are the CDC quarantine guidelines not updated to reflect Delta has transmissibility with just a few minutes close contact vs. 10 or 15? We don’t think we need to see an updated quarantine rule. If you are quarantining because you’ve been exposed, you should develop symptoms within that time.
- (43:40) Is it safe to get a haircut with Delta? Yes, if everyone is vaccinated and wearing a mask.
- (45:55) If vaccinated people can still catch and spread COVID, is it safe to say we just simply cannot reach herd immunity? We may never reach the point where herd immunity eradicates COVID. It may never go away. But with enough masking and vaccination now, we can get to the point where we can safely operate in a new world where everyone’s not having to wear a mask.
Monday, August 23 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Medical Update. Dr. Angela Myers from Children's Mercy joins us to answer questions and concerns as children are back in the classroom, some masked, some not.
NOTE: Journalists should rejoin the Morning Medical Update at 8am as doctors are growing too busy again for individual interview requests. Please bring questions or send to medicalnewsnetwork@kumc.edu until further notice. Thanks for all you do and helping to keep the community safe with your reporting.
ATTENTION: media procedure for calling in:
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