The University of Kansas Health System is treating a total of 33 COVID patients today, up from 28 yesterday. Other significant numbers:

• 20 with the active virus today, 16 yesterday
• 1 in ICU, 0 yesterday
• 0 on a ventilator, 0 yesterday
• 13 hospitalized, but out of acute infection phase, 12 yesterday

Key points from today’s guests:

Anne Weese, Ph. D., director of mental wellness & sports psychology, Kansas State Athletics

• Developed a series of video clips with really pointed facts about what coaches and activity sponsors they might see in students and how they can intervene when a concern arises and to better support students overall. (Videos available at bit.ly/MMUkshsaavideo).
• The original audience was for the coaches and activity sponsors, but the more we looked at the content, we realized that anyone who knows a student involved in school activities needs to be watching these videos.
• Two key things to recommend: proper and effective sleep and a daily mindfulness routine.
• Two biggest myths about suicide are: One, if I introduced the idea, then they might do something with it. And two, if I ask if someone’s feeling suicidal, they’ll be mad at me. Well, I’d rather have someone mad at you and alive to repair that relationship than no longer with us. And we’re seeing suicides at younger and younger age.
• Help is out there. Along with those mental health matters videos, there's a toolkit with some more specific phrases you can use in high stress situations to help deregulate and get the student help.
• There is a national number now -- 988 -- that they can call. It's like a 911 number get mental health services 24/7

Dr. David Smith, director, youth sports medicine, KSHSAA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee

• Every week I will see student athletes where I perceive that there’s some external pressure on them to perform at a high level.
• Sometimes the pressure is from the athlete because they’ve set very unreasonable expectations for themselves, or from coaches that see a skill in an athlete and push them extra hard.
• We have to remember that these are adolescents, and they have not fully matured the emotional center in their brain. It’s hard enough for us as adults to sometimes handle those kinds of pressures, let alone an adolescent that is still developing.
• Be aware of someone who you might be able to make a difference in their life -- be aware of what they might be struggling with.
• If we can all do that, I think that we can make a dent in what we're seeing is an exponential rise in mental health issues.

Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control, The University of Kansas Health System

• This is antibiotic Awareness Week and as we're starting respiratory viral season, we know there's a lot of common cold viruses out there. Colds, influenza and COVID-19 are caused by viruses, so antibiotics will not affect those viruses.
• It is important to make sure a bacterial infection does not evolve from an initial viral infection. It's extremely important to give antibiotics when they are needed just like any medicine, but not give them when they aren’t needed.
• If you think you do need antibiotics, it's vitally important to go see a medical professional and get evaluated.

Monday, November 21 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Medical Update. With 55 million people expected to travel over Thanksgiving this year according to AAA, learn about the best and worst days to travel to avoid crowds. Plus, a mental health expert offers tips on keeping calm on the road and at home.

ATTENTION MEDIA: Please note access is with Microsoft Teams:

Join on your computer or mobile app

Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 235 659 792 451
Passcode: 6CSfGE

Download Teams | Join on the web

Or call in (audio only)

+1 913-318-8863,566341546#   United States, Kansas City

TVU Grid link: UoK_Health_SDI

Restream links: Facebook.com/kuhospital

YouTube.com/kuhospital

Send advance questions to medicalnewsnetwork@kumc.edu.