The number of active COVID patients at The University of Kansas Health System is lower today. 37 with the active virus are being treated, down from 40 yesterday. Only nine of those 37 are vaccinated. 14 patients are in the ICU, down from 17 yesterday. Nine are on ventilators, the same as yesterday, and just one of those patients is vaccinated. 35 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID but are out of the acute infection phase, up from 31 yesterday. That’s a total of 72 patients, up from 71 yesterday.
On today’s Morning Medical Update we heard from Dr. Gary Morsch with the COVID Care Force on how countries are cracking down on travel regulations. Plus, retired Rear Admiral Kevin Meeks joined to talk about how Native American tribes like the Chickasaw Nation are protecting their own in the pandemic.
Dr. Morsch recently traveled to Eastern Europe and described the stringent COVID precautions being taken in other countries. He says full vaccination and a COVID test were mandatory before even being allowed to leave the United States, and proof of both was required in Europe. While there, he had to take a COVID test every day. Masks were mandated everywhere, and not just the fashionable cloth ones many of us wear, but the regular surgical kind. In some places like Czechoslovakia and Croatia, they even required the fitted N-95 masks. He said in his travels, especially in countries where the economy is built on tourism, the people were very grateful he and his group of fellow Americans took the COVID precautions seriously. That thinking mirrors the culture of Native American reservations in the U.S., where Dr. Morsch’s group, the COVID Care Force, spends a lot of time supporting the population with volunteer doctors and nurses. He says the vaccination rate among the Navajo Nation is 75 percent, reached months ago, which is considered herd immunity. That compares to the rest of the U.S. which is ranked 47th in the world for vaccination. The difference is in the Native American culture, which he describes as, “It’s not about me and my rights and what I can get by with, but it’s about what can we do to get through this together.” He says as a whole, the Native Americans trust their doctors and elders and don’t believe the conspiracy theories repeated by many unvaccinated Americans. Dr. Morsch believes the best way to convince the vaccine resistant is educating through kindness, gentleness and empathy.
Admiral Meeks is particularly proud of the Chickasaw Nation, being a tribal citizen himself, and is Deputy Director of Operations for the entire Indian Health Service, which includes 564 tribes across the U.S. He described how the tribes prepared last year as COVID began spreading across the country, and they immediately put in steps to stop the spread. Those included limiting travel, restricting reservation access and in the case of one tribe in the Grand Canyon, closing all operations and locking down the reservation. They also set up daily employee health screenings as well as drive through testing and vaccination sites, which the population embraced. He says that spirit of coming together is much more common among Native Americans than the rest of society, and has helped keep the number of COVID cases among them to a minimum. He agrees with Dr. Morsch that all the scientific arguments in the world won’t convince some people to wear masks and get vaccinated. He feels the best way is gentle social pressure from those who have been vaccinated. He wants everyone to know there is no great conspiracy or manipulation with the vaccine, and while we may never reach 100 percent vaccination, we’ll stop the pandemic when we reach 75 to 80 percent herd immunity, and will keep people healthy for generations to come.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at The University of Kansas Health System, thinks it’s great news the U.S. is doubling its purchase of the Pfizer vaccine to one billion doses to try to get 70 percent of the world population vaccinated. He points out that last year’s flu season was nonexistent in the U.S. because of mask restrictions and social distancing, but this year could be different with fewer restrictions. He encourages everyone to get a flu shot and says it’s OK to get the COVID vaccine at the same time. He also warns us to be extra cautious during the holiday travel season this year, especially on airplanes, by wearing a mask and eye protection. He pointed out that the vaccinations work against all of the strains from the original Wuhan to the Delta, which spreads much easier. He says even if you were vaccinated in January, you still have great protection.
Thursday, September 22 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Medical Update. We’ll report live from Arrowhead Stadium on a passionate group of bike riders traveling coast to coast to find a cure for cancer.
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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