A big increase in the numbers of COVID patients over the weekend at The University of Kansas Health System. 40 patients with the active virus are being treated, up from 32 on Friday. All are unvaccinated. 15 of those patients are in the ICU, up from 10 Friday. Ten patients are on ventilators, up from nine Friday. 17 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID but are out of the acute infection phase, up from 14 Friday. That’s a total of 57 patients, up from 46 on Friday. HaysMed has nine total patients today, up from eight on Friday.
On today’s Morning Medical Update, we had updates on COVID and discussed the spike in RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) cases with Children’s Mercy Hospital infectious disease specialist Dr. Jennifer Schuster. Also joining was Dr. Michael Lewis, Medical Director of Inpatient Pediatrics at the health system.
Before getting to the day’s topic, doctors discussed the KDHE recommendation that those unvaccinated Kansans who attended the Garth Brooks concert at Arrowhead quarantine for seven to ten days since it was an out of state gathering of more than 500 with people less than five feet from each other. Doctors agreed that is unenforceable, and technically the same should be in place for Royals games and the upcoming Chiefs games. They think being outside will help mitigate the virus spread, and wearing a mask was probably more important. They worry about KU basketball games later this year at Allen Field House and say allowing a full crowd depends a lot on the status of the virus at that time.
Dr. Schuster reports Children’s Mercy has reached a peak of 22 COVID patients, about twice as high as last winter. She says pediatricians have learned a lot in the 18 months of the pandemic. Their biggest lesson is that masks stop the spread of the disease in schools, which is where kids belong rather than learning at home. Because of that, they recommend all kids should wear a mask at school, whether vaccinated or not and whether the school requires it or not. They can take them off while eating and playing outside. She reassured everyone that the vaccines approved for kids 12 and up are perfectly safe. The reported cases of myocarditis after a shot are very mild and very rare. She says kids are having heart problems from the virus itself, and that damage could be long-term. She tells parents it’s not necessary to wash your children’s clothes as soon as they get home from school. It’s very uncommon for viruses to spread on surfaces and the primary spread is from droplets or face-to- face contact. That’s why she says masks are so important, especially for those under 12 who can’t get the vaccine yet. She also tells parents if they’re worried about whether their child has COVID, RSV, or any other virus, to get them tested because one test can look for all of those diseases.
Dr. Lewis says pediatricians have never seen RSV cases in the summer, and explained that, unlike last summer when masking restrictions were in place, the disease is free to spread this summer. He also explained how without masks in classrooms, it only takes one sick kid to cause a whole classroom to be quarantined. Schools are like any other crowded indoor location, which is why he says masks are vital for keeping kids in classrooms. He says some kids get long haul symptoms like adults, and the symptoms tend to be chronic fatigue. To those parents who protest the thought of their kids wearing a mask, he says they have not followed the science and don’t understand the risk unmasked kids pose to themselves and to those around them. He urges them, and all parents, to do what’s right.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control, reminds parents their kids are bringing COVID home and the Delta variant has a fairly high attack rate in the home. He says the reason some vaccinated people get the virus is behavioral, with lessened restrictions, getting together more and overall weariness from the pandemic. He reminds us no vaccine will prevent a disease 100 percent of the time, but the current vaccines will protect you from serious illness, hospitalization, and death. He notes the age of hospitalized COVID patients is lower with many in their 20’s and 30’s, and all unvaccinated. He also put an end to the myth that wearing a mask weakens your immune system. He and all the doctors on the panel agreed that is completely false.
Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health System, has a bleak warning for heart attack and stroke patients who may urgently need a hospital bed. Right now, he says, we can probably find one for you, but it’s becoming more of a problem each day the COVID numbers go up. Many vaccine-resistant people say they’ll just get natural immunity from the virus.
