The University of Kansas Health System reports a steady number of COVID patients today. 15 with the active virus are being treated, up from 14 yesterday. Four patients are in the ICU, the same as yesterday. One is on a ventilator, the same as yesterday. 18 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID but are out of the acute infection phase, the same as yesterday. That’s a total of 33 patients, up from 32 yesterday.
On today’s Morning Medical Update, you’ve probably seen Michelle DeMartino on our program. She’s one of those who signs for our hearing impaired viewers. She lost both her parents to COVID and now her two children will grow up without knowing their grandparents. She's hoping her story will encourage you to get you and your kids vaccinated. In her parents’ honor she's taking no chances and had her children get vaccinated live on our program. We were also joined by Dr. Angela Myers, the director of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Mercy.
It’s been a very hard year for Michelle DeMartino and her family since the deaths of her parents, Susan and Ralph to COVID. Her mom missed being able to get the vaccine by two weeks. Getting the adults in her family vaccinated has helped them all feel a bit more normal, but the kids have been asking for a long time when it would be their turn. Today, Antonio and Tommy Ralph both received the newly-approved Pfizer vaccine live during the show. Michelle is proud of them and says they wanted to do it in memory of their grandparents. They both felt fine after the 15 minute waiting period and were ready to get back to school. They’ll get their second shots in three weeks.
Dr. Myers described a weekend vaccination clinic for kids 5-11 at Children’s Mercy and was excited by how many got their shots. Their schedule of appointments for the month of November filled up in 15 minutes. She says the side effects have been very mild in kids, mostly just sore arms. She said, “It’s a fallacy to think that children aren’t affected by COVID. They are, and children do die.” Many still cling to the belief that there’s not enough evidence the vaccine for kids is safe. She says 3000 children took part in the trials, which is a huge number compared to most trials that involve just a couple hundred people. Plus, she says the data proving the vaccine is safe and effective is publicly available. She’s worried about Blue Valley and Olathe schools dropping the mask mandates for high schools kids in a few weeks, and thinks we’ll see a rise in COVID cases in December as a result. She says, “It’s an experiment and unfortunately, it’s an experiment with our kids.”
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at The University of Kansas Health System, is glad to see the steady numbers of COVID patients over the last few weeks. But he, and many doctors, feel we’re in for a spike in December once mask mandates are lifted and more people gather indoors. Vaccines keep people out of the hospital, so he says the real bellwether will be the number of hospitalizations, not just the number of cases. He received his Moderna booster on the show last week and said he didn’t have any side effects other that a sore shoulder for a short time.
Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health System, got his booster at the same time and reported the same result, just a sore arm. He feels we need to be paying attention to the big spike in cases in Colorado and western Kansas, which he says is headed our way. He says the health system began vaccinating young children on Friday and it’s gone very well. If you’re vaccinated and planning to visit unvaccinated family at Thanksgiving, he advises wearing a mask and keeping as much distance as possible when eating. He hopes at some point in the future we will be able to de-politicize the vaccine as we’re fighting the worst pandemic since 1918. He says, “It’s been tested more than any other vaccine in history. If you really understand and know medicine, you would know that this is probably the best researched and best tested medication of all time.”
Wednesday, November 10 at 8:00 a.m. we hope you’ll join us for the next Open Mics With Dr. Stites.
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.
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