The number of COVID patients at The University of Kansas Health System continues to climb today. 73 with the active virus are being treated, up from 68 on Friday. Only five of those patients are vaccinated. 20 COVID patients are in the ICU, up from 15 Friday. 14 are on ventilators, up from ten Friday. 35 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID but are out of the acute infection phase, up from 31 Friday. That’s a total of 108 patients, up from 99 Friday.
On today’s Morning Medical Update, Thomas and Holly Ekeler, a married couple from Wichita, joined Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer and Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control. The Ekelers are expecting a baby in March and talked about their harrowing experience when both caught COVID after being vaccine hesitant.
Here are the key points from each of today’s speakers:
Thomas Ekeler
- Resisted vaccine, thought it was “too new” and “experimental.”
- Caught COVID and had mild case
- Says he made a mistake by waiting and spread the virus to his wife
- Warns everyone that COVID is not just a cold or the flu
- Challenges non-believers to make decisions on facts and trusted medical sources
Holly Ekeler
- Was 23 weeks pregnant and developed much worse case. Had to be flown to KU Health System.
- Ended up on ventilator
- Nearly lost baby
- Finally turned a corner and was released from the hospital
- Both have since been vaccinated and will be getting boosters soon
- Still has lingering effects such as asthma, kidney stones and voice problems
- Baby boy Henry due in March
Dr. Stites
- Pregnant women have much higher risk from COVID
- Current surge of COVID cases was expected after Thanksgiving
- 500 health system employees affected, though not all tested positive
- South Africa omicron variant cases saw rapid rise and then rapid fall. We hope it’s the same here
- Nursing homes are still at high risk due to low staff vaccination rates. This could make it tough to place patients discharged from the hospital
- If you’re unvaccinated, it doesn’t affect just you, it affects the whole community with the strain on hospital beds and resources
Dr. Hawkinson
- 1 in 400 Americans has now died from COVID
- It has become a pandemic of the unvaccinated, as the vast majority of those hospitalized are unvaccinated
- Too much misinformation keeping people from getting vaccinated
- COVID is becoming endemic, it will always be with us regardless of season
Tuesday, January 4 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Medical Update. As students begin to head back to class from winter break, we examine how schools are handling omicron and the lifting of mask mandates. We’ll see what the numbers tell us, what officials have learned, and what they predict the new normal at school will look like.
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:
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 1-312-626-6799, meeting ID: 782 897 8628.
The feed is also available via TVU grid. The TVU source is UoK_Health_SDI and is being made available to all.
Feel free to send questions in advance to medicalnewsnetwork@kumc.edu.
