Month: May 2020

With national unemployment rates at highs not seen since the Great Depression, Gov. Laura Kelly today urged Kansans who have lost their jobs because of the COVID-19 pandemic to file for unemployment.

The worst monthly jobs report since the Great Depression showed 20.5 million jobs lost in April, with a 14.5 percent unemployment rate nationally.

“In the two short months since the coronavirus turned our lives upside down, it’s not only become the leading cause of death in the United States, it has wiped out an entire decade of job growth,” Gov. Kelly said.

A federal unemployment compensation plan provides an additional $600 per week to those who have lost their jobs in the pandemic, she said. The Kansas Department of Labor has paid out over 200,000 of the $600 payments, she said. They began processing on May 6.

Gov. Kelly urged Kansans who are unemployed because of the pandemic, are qualified and have not yet applied, to apply at www.getkansasbenefits.gov/ on certain days: A through G on Sunday, H through M on Monday, N through S on Tuesday and T through Z on Wednesday.

Gov. Kelly also announced an $8.9 million federal grant has been received by Kansas to be used to strengthen early childhood education programs. Funds will be used to keep up the current early childhood educational system, for children from birth to age 5, she said. The pandemic has caused an unprecedented amount of stress in children’s lives, she said.

Dr. Lee Norman, Kansas secretary of health, said Kansas today reported 6,501 COVID-19 cases, an increase of 357 since Thursday, and 152 deaths, an increase of five since Thursday.

Dr. Norman said the state is monitoring 76 clusters of cases, including 31 private companies, 378 cases with four deaths; 22 long-term care facilities with 540 cases and 85 deaths; eight churches with 111 cases and eight; six meatpacking plants with 1,082 cases and two deaths; three group living situations with 41 cases and zero deaths; three correctional facilities with 687 cases and two deaths; and three health care facilities with 22 cases and zero deaths.

Dr. Norman said testing of inmates at Lansing Correctional Facility is now complete, and it appears less than 50 percent have tested positive for COVID-19.

With adequate testing across the state, persons who have symptoms should reach out to their health care providers to get tested, Dr. Norman said.

Dr. Norman said the Batelle device is now at Forbes base in Topeka for reprocessing N95 masks. It is free and open to Kansas health care persons who wear masks as part of their health care work, he said. Hospitals, long-term care facilities, first responders and state agencies may use the reprocessing service. They would go through the county emergency management agency for information.

He said he hoped 10,000 masks a day could be processed.

Dr. Norman also said KDHE and University of Kansas School of Engineering have joined forces to see if COVID-19 can be detected in wastewater. They used a system that had been tested in Massachusetts and the Netherlands.

They took samples from wastewater from small and large cities in Kansas, including Lawrence and Topeka, and detected genetic material in wastewater, matching it with genetic markers for COVID-19. The virus itself does not survive in wastewater and is not a means of transmission, he said.

The testing can be used to see how widespread COVID-19 is in a community, Dr. Norman said.

Disinfection by all Kansas public water suppliers inactivates the virus and drinking water will remain safe for consumption, according to state officials.

State case counts in counties

Wyandotte County reported 1,000 positive COVID-19 cases on Friday, an increase from Thursday. In Wyandotte County, there have been more than 4,300 tests, many at outbreak sites, with a 26 percent testing rate per thousand, according to KDHE.

On Friday, according to the KDHE, Leavenworth County reported a total of 907 confirmed and probable cases, an increase of 20 cases. In Leavenworth County, more than 3,500 persons were tested after an outbreak at the state prison with a testing rate of 42.9 per thousand.

Johnson County reported 583 confirmed and probable cases, an increase of 23, according to the KDHE. There were more than 8,500 persons tested in Johnson County, with a testing rate of 14.2 per thousand.

Eighty-two counties reported confirmed and probable positive cases on Friday, according to KDHE, and some of them included: Ford County (Dodge City area), 1,027; Seward County (Liberal area), 668; Finney County (Garden City area), 677; Sedgwick County (Wichita area), 438; Lyon County (Emporia area), 323; and Shawnee County (Topeka area), 146.

More than 2,600 persons were tested in Ford County, where there are meatpacking plant outbreaks, with a testing rate of 79 per thousand.

In Shawnee County, more than 3,600 persons have been tested, with a testing rate of 20.8 per thousand.

Douglas County (Lawrence area) reported 56 cases, and Riley County (Manhattan area) reported 56 cases, according to the KDHE.

To view the governor’s news conference, visit https://www.facebook.com/GovLauraKelly/videos/728967931256339/?v=728967931256339.

The ReStart WyCo plan is at https://www.wycokck.org/WycoKCK/media/Health-Department/Documents/Communicable%20Disease/COVID19/RestartWYCOGuidanceDocument043020.pdf.

Several Wyandotte County pop-up testing sites are listed at https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/pages/what-to-do-if-you-think-you-have-covid-19.

To view the Thursday night UG Commission special session, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHutbMMTFN8.

The UG’s COVID-19 webpage is at https://alpha.wycokck.org/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Information.

The Kansas COVID-19 website is at https://covid.ks.gov/.

The Kansas COVID-19 resource page is at https://govstatus.egov.com/coronavirus

Information from the CDC is at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/.

As Wyandotte County reached 1,000 positive COVID-19 cases on Friday, Wyandotte County is looking at moving from the “stay-at-home” order it is currently under, into the “red zone” of the Restart WyCo plan on Monday, May 11.

Terrie Garrison, interim director of the Unified Government Health Department, at Thursday night’s UG Commission meeting said Wyandotte County’s case rate per 100,000 is about four times as much as any of the state or of Johnson County and Kansas City, Missouri.

Juliann Van Liew, who manages operations in the Health Department, said they are now looking at “rolling averages” of cases and mortality numbers. These reflect an average each day of the previous 14 days.

Most recently, the rolling averages chart reflected an increase of cases over the past few days, she said. The rolling averages for deaths is down, she added, over the past few weeks.

The Health Department now has testing in the community five days a week from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays at the Health Department parking lot, with pop-up testing, also. The Walmart in Bonner Springs and in Piper will be starting pop-up testing on May 15, she said. There also are talks to have pop-up testing at the George Meyn Center in Wyandotte County Park, Bonner Springs.

Dr. Allen Greiner, chief medical officer for Wyandotte County, said a lot of work went into the ReStart WyCo plan announced last week, and they are working to clarify items and to have frequently asked questions and answers for businesses on the website and 311 phone line.

On midnight, May 10, the current stay-at-home order expires, he said, and they will go into the “red zone” on Monday. They will wait a full 14-day period before deciding whether to make the transition from the red to yellow zone, he added.

Dr. Greiner said the plan is to monitor trends of cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

There are some differences between the “stay-at-home” order and the “red zone,” he said.

He said Mayor David Alvey led a faith community phone call on Thursday morning, requesting the faith community’s help in keeping things safe among faith communities. There were clusters a long time ago in faith communities, and they also will work hard with nursing homes and other clusters, he added.

There is a continued highest caution for vulnerable populations, which will be asked to stay home, he said.

There is no change for essential businesses and nursing homes. The requirements they are requesting nursing homes to stick with are the same, he said.

Some nonessential businesses will be allowed to open if they can have physical distancing, while encouraging work from home.

Retail stores that are not essential can be open for curbside pickup and delivery, he said. People will be allowed to pick up items that they called in to purchase in-store, but social distancing and mask use will be promoted, he said.

Dr. Erin Corriveau, deputy health officer for Wyandotte County, said there will not be dine-in service at restaurants in the “red zone” phase, but carryout and delivery will be allowed. Hotels are asked to limit their capacity to 25 percent if possible, she said.

There will be no change to child care and education guidelines, there is hope children will stay with the same children they’re with on a daily basis, and that distance education continues, she said.

No personal services are allowed, so people have to wait a little longer for a haircut, she added.

Churches may operate at 10 percent capacity with social distancing during the “red zone,” or have drive-up services, she said. The Health Department is recommending to stay online as much as possible, she added.

Sports teams may practice and hold games, without fans, she said.

Outdoor activities are still encouraged, she said. People may be in groups of 10 or less with social distancing in outdoor activities.

In looking at when to change zones, the Health Department is considering hospitalizations, deaths and the positive rate when testing for COVID-19, over a 14-day period, she said. They are especially looking at rolling averages, making sure they have capacity and contact tracers, with personal protective equipment available, she said.

So far, the Health Department had completed about 4,000 tests by Thursday, with a positive rate of about 23 percent, according to local officials.

Commissioner Gayle Townsend said it’s still a challenge for citizens who can’t see the COVID-19 website on the internet, and she wanted to know how else the Health Department is notifying residents.

Dr. Corriveau said any resident may call the 311 phone line to ask any COVID-19 question and be connected to resources. Also, businesses may call 311 with questions about businesses reopening, she said. They have been working on mailers, and will do video clips, she said. They are trying many approaches at once.

In answer to a question from Commissioner Jane Philbrook, Dr. Greiner said it will continue to be a tough decision on when to change from one zone to another, and when to hold on or backtrack. They will continue to put as much information out as how they are analyzing things, he said. But it is hard for people to know they can’t give a particular number.

They want stability of numbers, if not declining numbers, he said. Deaths, hospitalizations, availability of personal protective equipment, outbreaks and a number of factors are involved. When they do a diagnosis, they have to weigh a number of different things and it isn’t always clear-cut, but there are a number of factors that get them there, he said.

“It’s a little bit of an art and science approach, but to some extent that’s medicine and that’s public health,” he said.

Wyandotte County positive COVID-19 cases reached 1,000 at the 2:15 p.m. May 8 UG COVID-19 webpage report, an increase of about 61 cases. Wyandotte County reported 939 cases on Thursday morning.

The number of deaths was the same, at 64, as Thursday, and the number of patients hospitalized also was the same, at 40, according to the UG COVID-19 webpage. There were 189 recoveries reported.

The number of COVID-19 patients at the University of Kansas Health System declined by two today, to 24, with more patients released.

On the UG Health Department’s outbreak map, 40 patients at the Life Care Center of Kansas City were identified as positive for COVID-19, a slight increase from earlier this week. Other outbreaks did not show an increase. (https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/)

More information about the “red zone” rules is online at the ReStart WyCo hub at https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/pages/restartwyco.

The ReStart WyCo plan is at https://www.wycokck.org/WycoKCK/media/Health-Department/Documents/Communicable%20Disease/COVID19/RestartWYCOGuidanceDocument043020.pdf.

Several Wyandotte County pop-up testing sites are listed at https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/pages/what-to-do-if-you-think-you-have-covid-19.

To view the Thursday night UG Commission special session, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHutbMMTFN8.

The UG’s COVID-19 webpage is at https://alpha.wycokck.org/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Information.

The Kansas COVID-19 website is at https://covid.ks.gov/.

The Kansas COVID-19 resource page is at https://govstatus.egov.com/coronavirus

Information from the CDC is at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/.

The economics of hospitals and health care was discussed at a University of Kansas Health System news conference on Friday morning with U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, and hospital officials.

Sen. Moran remarked that perhaps the reopening of the economy could be led by the return of hospitals and health care providers to something more close to normal.

He said he hoped that revenues from patient care return to the health care delivery system. Doctors at the news conference said that hospitals and health care offices are among the safest places to be with more protective measures in place.

“Margins in a hospital are pretty slim,” Doug Gaston, senior vice president and chief financial officer at KU Health System, said at the news conference.

Hospitals were particularly hard hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, as they had to scale back their elective surgeries and non-emergency visits, while also spending more money to obtain tests, gear and equipment to fight COVID-19. Some recent publications reported a third of the fall in gross domestic product was due to health care industry, according to KU doctors.

Gaston said ratings agencies stated the average margin for hospitals is 1.7 percent, meaning that for every $1,000 in charges, it adds $17 to the bottom line.

“Given that framework, we can’t stand a big disruption, otherwise it wrecks the finances of a hospital,” Gaston said. “Unfortunately, we’ve had a big disruption.”

Early national predictions were a 40 percent decline in gross charges for the first four months, some are saying 20 percent in the next 12 months, he said. While they don’t know what the exact figures will be, it will be significant and is a big challenge, Gaston said.

Gaston said that while they are developing a number of plans at the health system in order to be flexible, they do not want to furlough workers. There is not a plan to reduce staff, he said. That could result in the loss of highly skilled workers, and they might have to then hire more workers later. It would damage their business model, he said.

“I think it’s shortsighted to dismantle your workplace,” he said.

Sen. Moran, at the news conference, said the CARES Act set aside $100 billion to help health care providers in the nation, with $30 billion first for Medicare reimbursements, and $20 billion in the second payment for Medicaid reimbursements, in loans.

In the last week, $18 million in grants from Health and Human Services was allocated to high intensity COVID-19 hospitals in Kansas, and $82 million in grants to rural hospitals in Kansas, he said.

Also, city, county and district hospitals now are able to get a loan through the PPP program, he said. Originally these hospitals were not able to get this funding, he said. Sixty Kansas hospitals qualified by having less than 500 employees, but half of those were originally ineligible because they were city, county or district hospitals, and that has now been changed after he and others intervened, Sen. Moran said.

The unemployment rate hit 14.7 percent today, with 20.5 million people unemployed, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Labor, Sen. Moran said during the news conference.

Sen. Moran also said 100,000 medical masks have been donated to Kansas by Taiwan. The masks have the same quality and requirements as the U.S. medical masks, he said. He said a member of his staff was instrumental in helping to get this donation.

Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control at the KU Health System, said that COVID-19 patient numbers at the KU Health System on Friday were down, with 24 reported as compared to 26 on Thursday. Nine patients were in the intensive care unit. Four to five patients are being admitted per day, usually, and about the same number are being discharged. In all, there have been 120 patients discharged at KU Health System since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer at the KU Health System, said there is a lot of collateral damage in COVID-19 from people not taking care of their health, from other conditions.

“Don’t be part of COVID collateral damage,” he said. Don’t be afraid to get help, he added.

Dr. Hawkinson encouraged patients to continue to discuss their medical conditions with their providers and to continue to treat chronic illnesses, so they don’t have emergencies.

Dr. Stites said the way to beat the pandemic is to wash your hands, don’t touch your face, cough into your elbow, don’t go out when sick, wear a mask and don’t ignore symptoms that would lead you to get health care.

To see the KU doctors’ news conference, visit https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital/videos/2634658273416069/.

The UG’s COVID-19 webpage is at https://alpha.wycokck.org/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Information.

The Wyandotte County reopening plan, a 41-page document, was posted Thursday, April 30, at https://www.wycokck.org/WycoKCK/media/Health-Department/Documents/Communicable%20Disease/COVID19/RestartWYCOGuidanceDocument043020.pdf.

The Kansas COVID-19 website is at https://covid.ks.gov/.

The Kansas COVID-19 resource page is at https://govstatus.egov.com/coronavirus

Information from the CDC is at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/.