Month: November 2020

COVID-19 cases continue to rise; health officials say small home and social gatherings responsible for spread

Household contacts and social gatherings seem to be spreading COVID-19 the most in Kansas right now, according to Kansas Secretary of Health Lee Norman.

Speaking during a news conference on Tuesday morning at the University of Kansas Health System, Dr. Norman said that nursing homes, prisons and manufacturing plants were formerly the biggest spreaders, but that has changed.

Now it is community-wide and clusters are driving it, he said.

COVID-19 cases at KU hospital and in Wyandotte County continued to rise on Tuesday. On Monday, Wyandotte County issued new limitations reducing the size of gatherings to 10, and closing bars and restaurants at 10 p.m. Those restrictions will go into effect Friday, along with similar restrictions in Jackson County, Missouri.

Dr. Norman said more restrictions work better than less. They want people to understand the principles, and not skirt the rules, he said. “If they skirt the rules they’re really skirting the principles,” he said.

The principles the doctors are referring to are wearing a mask, socially distancing, washing hands, limiting gatherings and staying home when sick.

Dr. Norman said that while in some states, tent hospitals are being set up to accommodate extra cases, the problem is there isn’t anyone to staff them here. Other states have similar problems, and there aren’t a lot of people available to help.

There are a lot of beds in Kansas, but they may be in the wrong place and not critical care beds, he said.

He said the state is working on a plan to transfer patients when they need intensive care, and then return the patients back to the original hospital when they are over the most acute phase.

While there is a state reserve medical corps, it may not provide the right mix of people for what is needed, although it remains a possibility, Dr. Norman said.

He said that hospitals generally preferred to “surge on their own footprint” rather than add the military reserves and tent facilities.

As smaller and medium-size communities across the state see growth in COVID-19 cases, they need to help themselves, Dr. Norman said.

The smaller communities have been very slow to come aboard with anti-contagion measures, he said.

He said Ford County, the Dodge City area, passed a mask mandate on Monday night, the first one they had there. The county still was not doing mass gathering limitations, he said.

“Counties need to pick it up, honestly,” he said.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment will be bringing in a service to provide what they call “air traffic control” for small community hospitals that need to transfer patients. KU doctors said they are getting calls from small hospitals needing to transfer patients, who have had to spend several hours trying to find an open bed.

The hospital would make one phone call, give all the necessary information, and then go back to taking care of their other patients, with the new service, Dr. Norman said. It would match patient needs with facilities. The service also would arrange for ground or air transport, he said.

When they are recovering, patients would go back to the community hospital or to nursing facilities, he said.

As most COVID-19 spread is happening with family, household or social gatherings, Dr. Norman said he would recommend that people keep their Thanksgiving celebrations small.

“No more than four people getting together, staying socially distanced,” Dr. Norman said.

“If we screw up during Thanksgiving and there is a huge surge of cases, December is going to be bleak,” Dr. Norman said.

He recommended that people “virtually” carve the turkey with those they love.

Also discussed on Tuesday morning were new vaccines for COVID-19. The vaccines are being coordinated through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, which has developed a plan.

Phil Griffin, director of the KDHE Bureau of Disease and Prevention, said they have been working several months on the distribution plan.

They have identified ultra-cold, 70 below zero, storage locations to bring the Pfizer vaccine into the state, he said. Moderna also has a vaccine, and it does not require the ultra-cold storage.

The new vaccines will go first to health care workers who work directly with COVID-19 patients, particularly in hospitals, Griffin said.

As they receive more vaccines, they will go to high-risk areas such as nursing homes, he said.

The vaccines will require two doses, an initial shot then a booster shot some weeks later.

Griffin said they are working with all providers on the reminder call process, to get people to return for the booster shot.

To those who are hesitant to get the vaccine, Griffin said they are not going to give unsafe vaccines in this country. To have a vaccine and not use it is risking one’s own life, he said.

Dr. Norman said it is important for leaders to lead during this time and to be great listeners. Leaders need to talk through people’s hesitations and fears, have conversations and not talk down to others, he said.

KU Health System reported its highest number ever of COVID-19 patients on Tuesday morning, with 84 acute patients in the hospital, an increase of four from Monday, and 31 in the intensive care unit, no change from Monday, according to Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control. There were 12 patients on ventilators, an increase of one since Monday.

In addition, there were another 42 COVID-19 patients still hospitalized on Tuesday, but out of the acute infection phase, a decrease from 45 on Monday. In all there were 126 COVID-19 patients.

HaysMed in Hays, Kansas, reported 27 COVID-19 inpatients, and three of those were in the recovery phase, no change from Monday.

Wyandotte County reported an additional 120 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, for a cumulative total of 9,625, according to the Unified Government COVID-19 website. There was no change to the number of cumulative deaths, at 167.

The Mid-America Regional Council KC Region COVID-19 hub reported 72,685 cases on Tuesday, an increase of 1,301 cases since Monday for the nine-county region.

The seven-day average of new cases for the region is trending down, while deaths and hospitalizations are trending up, according to the website.

The seven-day average daily COVID-19 hospitalization number is 710, which is up 94 from last week. The seven-day average daily new COVID-19 hospitalizations was 183, trending up. The seven-day average number in the ICU was 170 in the nine-county region, up 24 from last week, according to the regional website.

The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States increased to 11,350,143 on Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University figures.

Free COVID-19 testing available on Wednesday

A free COVID-19 pop-up test will continue from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, at Faith Deliverance Family Worship Center, 3043 State Ave., Kansas City, Kansas.

The pop-up test is through Vibrant Health and the Wyandotte County Health Equity Task Force.

The Unified Government Health Department has moved its COVID-19 testing from the 6th and Ann location to the former Kmart at 78th and State Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas. The hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Tests are free for those who live or work in Wyandotte County. The tests are now saliva COVID-19 tests.

The tests now are open to asymptomatic people as well as those who have symptoms or have been exposed to COVID-19. Check with the UG Health Department’s Facebook page to see if there have been any changes in the schedule. Bring something that shows that you live or work in Wyandotte County, such as a utility bill.

For more information about the testing site at the former Kmart location, visit https://alpha.wycokck.org/files/assets/public/health/documents/covid/10092020_newtestingsitewyco.pdf.

The KU doctors’ news conference is at https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital/videos/417377582956621.

The new health order with a limit of 10 persons to a gathering, and a closing time of 10 p.m. for restaurants and bars, with other new restrictions, is at https://alpha.wycokck.org/files/assets/public/health/documents/covid/11162020localhealthorderexecuted.pdf.

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

The KDHE’s COVID-19 webpage is at https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/.

The KC Region COVID-19 Hub dashboard is at https://marc2.org/covidhub/.

The CDC’s COVID-19 webpage is at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html.

Official election results show high turnout of Wyandotte County voters

Final official election results are now in, and they show that Wyandotte County voters turned out in force for the general election Nov. 3.

Wyandotte County election results became official on Monday after the Board of Canvassers reviewed provisional ballots here. No election outcomes changed as a result, according to Election Commissioner Bruce Newby.

Turnout was about 62 percent of the total registered voters here and 69.5 percent of the active registered voters, Newby said.

“I think it’s doggone good,” he added.

The turnout this year approached the turnout in 2008, when 65 percent of the voters here cast a ballot when Barack Obama was elected, he said.

Rep. Stan Frownfelter, D-37th Dist., ran a write-in campaign in the general election after losing in the primary to Democratic candidate Aaron Coleman. Rep. Frownfelter’s name was not on the general election ballot, and his campaign urged voters to “Write in Stan.”

Newby said since Rep. Frownfelter was the only Stan in the election, the Board of Canvassers decided to count all the votes with just “Stan,” “Frownfelter” or his entire name as a write-in – anything that was obvious it was for Frownfelter.

Rep. Frownfelter got 1,222 write-in votes, and Republican Kristina Smith, also a write-in candidate, received 620 write-in votes, he said.

It was not enough, though, as Coleman received 3,649 votes in the general election.

“I could not count ‘Anyone Else,’ ‘Snow White’ or ‘Snoop Dogg’” – all other names that had been written in, he said.

There were 186 miscellaneous, fictitious names, and even a profanity written in on the 37th District contest that did not count.

There were no requests for recounts on this election by 4 p.m. Tuesday, which was not surprising, as there were no close races, he said.

1,621 provisional votes counted

The total of registered voters includes some inactive voters, Newby said. The total number of registered voters here is 91,358, and 67,276 ballots were cast, for a 62.7 percent turnout, he said. There are 82,745 active registered voters, he said.

This election, there were 2,367 provisional votes total, and 1,621 were approved to count, he said. Those which were not counted totaled 746.

“Seventy percent of all provisional ballots did count,” he said. “The rumor that says provisional ballots do not count is a bald-faced lie.”

More than 500 people had to vote a provisional ballot because they went to the wrong polling place, he said.

They also had 967 ballots that were cast by voters who had received advanced ballots by mail and did not vote an advance ballot. Instead, they showed up for early voting and voted a ballot there, he said.

“Those were provisional, but they all counted,” he said. There is no penalty for deciding to go to the polling place and not sending in the advance mail ballot, he added.

There were 27 people, however, who did vote an advance mail ballot and also voted a provisional ballot in person, he said. Those provisional ballots were not counted.

While he did not look into the reasons why they might have tried to vote twice, he said he knew from past experience that the voter is often an elderly person who has forgotten that he voted earlier.

Voting twice is an election crime, and in the past they have referred cases to the district attorney’s office. When a provisional ballot is not counted, then the opinion of the district attorney is that the election office kept a person from committing a crime by having a provisional ballot that did not count, he said. Because of the provisional ballot, the individual did not vote twice.

Different kind of election year

It was a different kind of election this year, as the risk of COVID-19 resulted in many people voting by mail or in advance polling sites.

While some other areas have reported election workers who got COVID-19, there were no election workers in Wyandotte County who reported any illnesses to them, Newby said.

One election office employee thought she had been exposed to COVID-19, he added, but it was her spouse who was exposed at work, and her three tests all came back negative.

All the election workers had to wear masks, he said.

“One of the things I was real strict about was everybody wearing a mask and using hand sanitizer,” Newby said.

He let the election workers know that under the law, no one could be prevented from voting because they weren’t wearing a mask.

“I told them wearing or not wearing a mask was not an obstacle to voting, it is a constitutional right to vote, and that rules the day,” Newby said.

Voters were good about wearing masks, he said. He didn’t see any voters without a mask, and while there may have been an occasional voter without a mask, he didn’t hear about it.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, each in-person voter who voted a paper ballot received a free pen with a rubber-tipped stylus and a tip that could be used to sign the poll book, he said. Voters got to keep that pen. The voters who voted on a touch screen received a long disposable Q-Tip so no further contact was being made with the instrument used to vote.

They had cleaning supplies available at each polling place to immediately clean screens, so nothing was passed on to other voters, he said.

Newby said when they counted mail ballots, he required workers to wear masks and sit at least 6 feet away from others. At the vote canvassing, workers also distanced and wore masks all the time, he added.

“We did everything we could do to prevent somebody from catching COVID, working this election,” he said.

The final official Wyandotte County vote totals are online at https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56606b47e4b0b9403ad6ff96/t/5fb302ed4b72177acb15dc92/1605567213873/Official+Website.pdf.

BPU to meet Wednesday

The Board of Public Utilities will meet on Wednesday, Nov. 18, in a remote Zoom meeting.

The meeting will be accessible through the internet on the Zoom meeting website, and also through telephone.

The work session will begin at 4:45 p.m., followed by the regular meeting at 6 p.m.

On the agenda for the work session are a board update, general manager update, a report on durable medical equipment, and a discussion of the 2021 capital projects budget.

On the agenda for the regular session at 6 p.m. will be the general manager and staff reports, COVID-19 update, utility bill print update, United Way campaign drive, miscellaneous comments and board comments.

The BPU’s buildings are closed to the public to reduce the risk of COVID-19 currently.

The Zoom meeting will be on the internet at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84523139724.

The meeting also is available by telephone; call toll-free 1-888-475-4499.

The meeting ID number is 845 2313 9724.

The board meeting information packet is at https://www.bpu.com/Portals/0/pdf/board-information-packet-11-18-20.pdf.

Members of the community who wish to speak to the board must be logged in to the Zoom meeting via the internet using their browser or the Zoom application. Members of the public will be asked to raise their hand to signal they wish to address the board.

During the public comment section of the agenda, community members will be asked to provide their name and address and will then have 5 minutes to speak.

The zoom application is free and can be downloaded from zoom for the following platforms

PC – https://zoom.us/support/download

Mac – https://apps.apple.com/us/app/zoom-cloud-meetings/id546505307

Android – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=us.zoom.videomeetings&hl=en

iOS – https://apps.apple.com/us/developer/zoom/id530594111

The public may also join from any web browser -https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84523139724.