The University of Kansas Health System reports 126 COVID patients with the active virus today, down from 129 on Friday. Five more patients died since Friday, making 26 COVID deaths at the health system since the beginning of January. 28 COVID patients are in the ICU, down from 29 Friday. 18 are on ventilators, down from 21 Friday. 73 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID but are out of the acute infection phase, way up from 50 on Friday. That’s a total of 199 patients, a big jump from 179 Friday.

            COVID has hit Western Kansas especially hard. Discussing that today was Dr. Brian Holmes, medical director of the ER and lab at Memorial Health Systems in the north central Kansas town of Abilene. Also on the show was Dr. Amber Schmidtke, Chair, Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of St. Mary, whom we like to refer to as our “numbers gal.” They joined Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at the health system and Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control.

            Here are the key points from each of today’s speakers:

Dr. Stites:

• Applauds the area school districts resuming mandatory masking in light of several closing temporarily because of staff and teacher shortages
• The health system is not yet at “Crisis Standard of Care” mode, in which hard decisions are made to treat only those who will benefit.
• Current COVID patients are younger and otherwise healthier than in the past
• Hope to see drop in current patient numbers in next few weeks

Dr. Schmidtke

• Wastewater testing in our area not showing COVID has peaked yet
• Four hospitals in Oklahoma City completely full, with 107 patients in hallway gurneys waiting for a room
• Her 10-year-old son contracted the virus, but symptoms were mild thanks to his vaccination
• Wearing a double mask can sometimes disrupt the fit. Check https://www.projectn95.org/ for the best advice on masks
• “A lot of people have put COVID in the rear view mirror, but it is right here in front of us.”

Dr. Holmes

• Emergency department forced to hold many patients with no place to put them
• Staff and EMS shortages compounding the problem
• Patient transfers to larger hospitals are non-existent
• Finds it very frustrating and hard to show compassion toward the unvaccinated patients in his hospital but still must treat them like everyone else
• With just 54% vaccination rate, says small towns are not taking COVID seriously. “Unfortunately, until all of these folks have a close relative or loved one that ends up suffering from COVID and dying, they just aren’t buying it still.”

Dr. Hawkinson

• Hard to see so many younger people with the disease knowing it could have been prevented
• Still have many more weeks of winter ahead and it’s vital to wear masks, keep socially distant, wash your hands, and avoid large crowds. Also, must get more people vaccinated
• Says gastrointestinal problems not as common as respiratory problems in COVID patients, but they do occur

            Wednesday, January 19 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Open Mics With Dr. Stites. He is one on one with Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas. The mayor will discuss his own bout with COVID and the impact it had on his family, including his eight-month-old baby. His message for us, plus what he's doing to help stop the spread of COVID in his city.

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_SDI and is being made available to all with TVU service.

Feel free to send questions in advance to medicalnewsnetwork@kumc.edu.