The number of COVID-19 patients at The University of Kansas Health System continues to creep up. 15 patients with the active virus are being treated today, up from 11 yesterday. Of those patients, two are in the ICU, the same as yesterday. One of those patients is on a ventilator, down from two yesterday. Seven other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID-19 but are out of the acute infection phase, up from five yesterday. That’s a total of 22 patients, up from 16 yesterday. Doctors report only one of the active patients is fully vaccinated and that patient has been COVID-positive since December because they are very severely immunosuppressed. Another unvaccinated patient is on life support in the ICU. They also noted other hospitals around the Metro are seeing this same uptick in patients.
On today’s Morning Media Update, Dr. Mario Castro, vice chair of Clinical and Translational Research at KUMC, was back to update several trials underway for therapies to treat COVID-19, and had word of a new trial for asthma sufferers.
Dr. Castro reinforced the need for everyone to get vaccinated, saying 20 to 30 percent of those who get the virus, which is about six or seven million people, end up with long-haul symptoms and months of expensive care. As a researcher, he’s impressed by the new Novavax vaccine, which is protein-based and 90 to 100 percent effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths from the disease. He mentioned that the Medical Center is currently testing three different monoclonal antibody therapies, one of which is a pill, which are meant to be given to those who just found out they have COVID-19 and hope to reduce the severity. (Please note: at 7:29 on the video, Dr. Castro misspoke when saying the ACTIV- 2 study involving an inhaled treatment has moved to phase three. It is still in phase two.) Those are in addition to one monoclonal antibody treatment that’s already approved and being used successfully in the early stages of the disease. Call Christina Pantalunan at 913-588-3851 to participate. He also described the new NIH study they are conducting that’s looking at four or five new precision medicine treatments for patients with severe asthma. He’s very excited by the potential of these therapies and encourages anyone with asthma to call Shelby Almo at 913-574-3006 for more information or to enroll. He explained how he’s working with caregivers in Central America, helping them treat COVID-19 patients without the plentiful resources found in this country. He discussed reasons why the Hispanic and African American populations seem to be more vaccine hesitant than most, and efforts to overcome that reluctance. He says incidents of myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart, after taking the vaccine are extremely rare and don’t last long, and the risk from the disease is much greater. To those who think they don’t need to worry about COVID-19 because it’s not affecting them or their neighbors, he has this message. “It may not affect you today, but it may affect you tomorrow or it may affect your loved one. You need to really proactively get out there and get your vaccine and make everybody safe, not just yourself but your family.”
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at The University of Kansas Health System, emphasizes how fortunate we are in the United States to have so much vaccine. He says it’s a tragedy that we have so much of it expiring because not enough people want to get vaccinated and people in other countries are dying because they can’t get enough. He feels too many people get their information from Facebook or Tik Tock rather than from the FDA, CDC, or doctors they know and trust. He stresses there is “absolutely no evidence of acute effects and lasting effects from the vaccine.” He also says there is no evidence to suggest you’ll have long-term effects that start a year or more after vaccination. Getting vaccinated, he says, can help you and your family have a safe summer.
Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health System, says we have to let go of fear and anxiety about the vaccines and embrace the science. He points out the health system alone has given more than 90,000 vaccines with no problems. He warns us all to be leery of what he calls “RU-RE’s,” or rumor reporters, many of whom report for the “Made Up News Network.” Stay away from made up news and rumors, he warns, and seek trusted sources of information, like this program, where they promise to always bring you the truth, whether it’s good news or bad news.
Wednesday, June 16 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Media Update. Dr. David Smith, medical director of youth sports medicine sits on the Kansas State High School Activities Association Sports Medicine Advisory Committee. They just had a recent meeting looking ahead to the fall. Dr. Smith will update us and share the concerns he's hearing from parents about the vaccine as well as the virus. Dr. Smith will also address sports related COVID-19 outbreaks in greater Kansas.
ATTENTION: media procedure for calling in:
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