The University of Kansas Health System reports a sharp rise in the numbers of COVID-19 patients today. 37 patients with the active virus are being treated, up from 29 yesterday. By comparison, there were just two patients in the hospital with the active virus six weeks ago on June 1. Nine of today’s patients are in the ICU, up from eight yesterday. Four of those patients are on ventilators, up from two yesterday. Seven other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID-19 but are out of the acute infection phase, down from 10 yesterday. That’s a total of 44 patients, up from 39 yesterday.
On today’s Morning Medical Update, we discussed the recent rise in the number of COVID patients plus looked into the recall of some sunscreens found to have a cancer-causing chemical. Dr. Anand Rajpara, our head of dermatology weighs in.
Before getting to the sunscreen topic, Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at The University of Kansas Health System, said the number of COVID hospitalizations in the Metro is becoming “very concerning, ”and is worried about a surge like the one in Springfield happening here. He says all area hospitals are seeing the rise of mostly unvaccinated patients. Six of the health system’s 37 patients are vaccinated, but all six are the sickest of the sick with severe co-morbidities such as obesity, diabetes, heart and lung disease, blood cancer and other conditions causing immunosuppression. The rest are unvaccinated, which he calls “frustrating,” because the vaccines make this a preventable disease. He says the vaccines are, “Life saving and preventive measures that people still don’t want to take for one reason or another, whether it’s politicized, unfortunately, because nobody should die for their political views.” He adds, “Whether it’s still feeling like it’s an experiment, whether there’s those misinformation campaigns about infertility, which are completely false, there are various reasons. But none of those reasons are good enough to override the general fact that these vaccines prevent you from going to the hospital, prevent severe illness and death.” He blames the recent surge in the Midwest on restrictions being lessened and the lack of vaccinations, especially in rural areas. He said it’s a myth that hospitals make more money from COVID patients and explained that those who get vaccinated while on chemotherapy don’t have the optimal antibodies and t-cell response and need to continue wearing a mask and social distancing. He added that vaccinated people have a significantly reduced chance of transmitting the virus to others.
On the topic of contaminated sunscreen, an independent testing lab detected the chemical benzene, a known human carcinogen, in 78 sunscreen products out of the 294 tested and is now calling on the Food and Drug Administration to recall those 78. The full list can be found on page 12 of this report. Dr. Rajpara wants to assure everyone that sunscreen is safe and points out the majority of the sunscreen products are not contaminated. He says benzene is not a sunscreen ingredient, and you’ll never see it on the label. He explained this is a manufacturing problem, and the benzene somehow got into the sunscreen by accident during that process and should definitely not be there. He’s noticing younger people are becoming more aware of the dangers of skin cancer and the benefits of sunscreen and said the number one question he gets from patients is which sunscreen does he recommend? He personally uses an SPF 30 Plus tinted mineral based sunscreen because those contain zinc or titanium dioxide. They sit on top of the skin and are not absorbed, cause less irritation, less allergy, are better for acne-prone skin and better for people who deal with hyperpigmentation and melanoma. The tinted part refers to its ability to block visible light and blend in better. He also says it’s a myth that dark-skinned people don’t need sunscreen. While they may be at reduced risk of skin cancer, he says they can suffer other damaging effects from the sun such as aging and hyperpigmentation. He adds that when people with dark skin do develop skin cancer, it’s usually detected later and therefore has a worse prognosis. His biggest takeaway message is any sunscreen is better than none and don’t panic about the benzene. Check this report on page 12 and if you find you have one of the affected sunscreens, throw it out and switch to a safe one.
Friday, July 16 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Medical Update. We are back with a Follow Up Friday. Dr. Stites joins us at the desk to help answer questions. Dr Kevin Ault, who serves on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will also join us to explain how the CDC puts together the vaccine policy for the United States.
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