The number of COVID-19 patients being treated at The University of Kansas Health System remains steady today. 100 people with the active virus are hospitalized, down from 101 yesterday. 48 patients are in the ICU, down from 53 yesterday. 29 of those ICU patients, about 60%, are on ventilators today, up from 24 yesterday. 59 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID-19 but are out of the acute infection phase, up from 58 yesterday. That’s a total of 159 patients, the same as yesterday. Five patients died between Monday and Tuesday. In addition, HaysMed has a total of 32 COVID-19 inpatients, same as yesterday, with 23 of those active patients and 9 in the recovery phase.
Doctors say they are taking steps to free ICU beds at the main hospital in Kansas City, KS by moving carefully selected and evaluated patients to rooms at the Indian Creek Campus. This allows patients with more complex care needs to be treated at the main hospital.
On the Morning Media Update today, Dr. Heather Harris, medical director at our HaysMed campus and Kevin Myers, infection prevention director, joined the call with a deeper dive into situation at the hospital and Ellis County.
Dr. Harris noted that about a third of the beds at HaysMed are being used for COVID-19 patients and the hospital has had to close to transfers more than any time in the last 14 years. The average length of stay for those patients is 10 days, much longer than for other patients. She believes some rural areas thought they were protected because of geography, but are finding that’s not the case, with more patients coming from those counties without mask mandates. She says only about half the patients know where they got the disease while the others seem shocked they have it. With a 27-30% positivity testing rate just since November, she says the extra patient load is putting a strain on the staff and causing them to close to some non-COVID-19 patients. She tells people that we’ve gone this far to stay healthy, and in just a few months, spring is going to look much better, which may let us have a late Thanksgiving.
Kevin Myers says the staff is holding up but is fatigued. He urges them to look for things to smile about. Their biggest concern is that all of the personal protective equipment they must wear makes it harder to provide a human touch to their patients. They say it’s important that patients see their faces and are able to read their lips, and the staff is trying to get creative to allow for that. He says there is still a small pocket of those who don’t think this is real, and it’s his job and the staff’s to educate and support patients and their families. His biggest worry is the spike will continue, especially with flu cases that are sure to come. But he says working in a small hospital has its advantages because friends and neighbors are more likely to be their patients, and they are reassured at being treated by someone they know.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at The University of Kansas Health System, answered a question about the CDC lowering the recommendation for a quarantine from 14 days to 7-10 days. He says it’s common for guidance to change as data changes, and doesn’t necessarily mean the science has changed. He says it’s not known yet if pregnant women will get the vaccine and advised those wanting to go to the mall to go when it’s not busy and definitely wear a mask everywhere indoors. He advises looking for a bit of joy each day and reassures us there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
David Wild, MD, VP of Performance Improvement at the health system, reported that about 70% of those in the hospital are from the Metro area, while the rest have been transferred from around the region. He said some have had to be flown in, which has risks of its own. He believes there will be another increase of patients in the next week or so from exposures over Thanksgiving. He also says the slight downturn in COVID-19 cases over the holiday was most likely due to fewer tests being given. He says each of us has a lot of power in the next days and weeks to stop the disease spread by staying resilient and following the pillars of infection prevention everywhere we go.
Thursday, December 3 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Media Update. We take you inside the infusion clinic where the first doses of the monoclonal antibody Bamlanivimab is being given to patients. Shannon Schroeder is the Infusion Therapy Clinic Manager and she also gives these infusions to patients.
