The University of Kansas Health System reports another increase in the numbers of COVID patients today. 43 patients with the active virus are being treated, up from 40 yesterday. They range in age from 3 to 93. 18 of those patients are in the ICU, up from 15 yesterday. Due to a technical problem, no other numbers are available. HaysMed has 12 total patients today, up from nine yesterday.
On today’s Morning Medical Update, Dr. Rex Archer, former director of the Kansas City, Missouri Health Department, joined with an unsettling prediction about September and COVID in the Metro area. Also, Juliann Van Liew with the Unified Government Public Health Department on the status of COVID in Wyandotte County.
Last month, Dr. Archer had this to say about the pandemic in the Kansas City Metro area: “There’s going to be a huge blowup in September.” His biggest concern was lack of masking and not enough people vaccinated. Today he said he still feels that way, but thinks there are some things being put in place that may reduce the size of that blowup. Those include reinstating mask mandates in some cities and many schools requiring everyone to be masked. He’s still very concerned that the Delta variant is so much more contagious and people with even very mild symptoms are shedding the virus at a fairly high level. He also sees that many people are simply tired of wearing masks, which will make compliance around the Metro area a challenge. But he says one of the most critical reasons he thinks the fall will be dangerous is, “Many of the school systems were being pressured by a small number of, I think, very ill informed parents to not have masks mandated in the schools.” He adds, “This virus appears to be much more contagious, and if schools don’t mandate mask wearing for everybody, we’re going to have a real problem in the fall.” He also says kids struggled with remote learning last year and they need to be in the classrooms. “Do I like wearing a mask? No, but you do it to protect others and sometimes to protect yourself. Our kids deserve to have a year where they can really get in and learn, and we need to do everything we can to help them.” He also points out that all coronaviruses mutate, as this one already has. He says the longer we let it hang around the more it creates problems for hospital bed capacity, and staffing capacity for those beds where people who need other procedures can’t get them done because the beds are full of COVID patients. He says one of the biggest myths he hears is that the vaccine is causing the different variants to pop up. It’s just the opposite, he says. “It’s people who are not getting vaccinated causing the problem because the more people become infected the more the virus has a chance to mutate.” He blames social media for spreading false rumors and “facts” that are simply not true. He says, “If it fits into your self-conceived idea of what you want to hear, then you don’t have the right filters on.” He urges everyone to seek trusted scientific sources such as the CDC or the American Academy of Pediatrics. He thinks this year’s holiday season will depend on how well we’ve been vaccinated and worn masks, but says we will probably have one more year of being careful before we’re back to normal.
Van Liew worries about the smaller school districts in Wyandotte County who may listen to very vocal parent opposition and may not put mask mandates into place. She says the schools “Can be hot boxes of infection if they don’t have the right controls in place.” She reminds us that schools are not in a silo, and what happens there has repercussions for the rest of us. Unfortunately, she said, the county is seeing uncontrolled community spread of the virus. Vaccines will make the difference in the long run, she says, but stressed, “Masks offer the opportunity to intervene right now, here, today.” One of the biggest myths she hears is that COVID doesn’t affect kids. She points out that’s not true, as COVID has killed between four and five hundred children. She says school lunches can be a challenge, and the answer may be having half of the class eat unmasked in the classroom and the other half eat in the cafeteria. She wants to give a nod to the many businesses in the last couple of weeks which have made vaccines mandatory for their workers. She calls that pivotal, and a “game changer” if enough others join them. She says, “We are all in this together, we are still a human race that relies on one another to achieve health and wellness as a community. We ask people to continue to consider their neighbors in their decision making.”
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control, has advice for those worried about air quality in our area from the Western wildfires. If you wonder whether a scratchy throat or cough is from the fires or if it’s COVID, he says get tested if the symptoms last more than two days. He stresses that studies have shown there is no mental or physical harm to kids from wearing a mask, and anecdotal evidence shows they do better than adults and don’t seem to mind. The biggest myth he hears is that you will get new infections if you wear a mask for many hours a day. He says that’s “wholly untrue.” He also recommends everyone get a flu shot as soon as it’s available and says early fall is best. He urges us to understand your sources of information about COVID and the vaccines. He says, “If we do things right from the medical standpoint, from the public health standpoint, we can keep our economy open with lessened restrictions.”
Wednesday, August 11 at 8:00 a.m. is the next edition of Open Mics With Dr. Stites. We hear from Dr. Catherine Satterwhite, regional health administrator for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on the importance of getting vaccinated and protecting those around you. Also, Dr. Lewis Satterwhite, pulmonary and critical care physician at the health system, with the different treatments available for those fighting COVID.
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 and is being made available to all.