Month: May 2022

Kansas COVID-19 case numbers trending up as hospital leaders see potential surge

by Noah Taborda, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — Leading infection control and prevention experts at a Kansas hospital say COVID-19 numbers are trending up slowly but have yet to reach the surging levels seen in other countries.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported Friday 2,847 new COVID-19 cases and 29 new deaths since the previous week. The rolling seven-day average is 277 cases, a slight decrease from the previous week, but a stark increase since March, when the rolling average dropped below 100 cases.

Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer for the University of Kansas Health System, said looking at a heat map, there is a band moving across the central part of the country from Colorado, now into Kansas and Missouri. Hospitalizations are up, but deaths have remained stagnant.

“Now we know that deaths usually follow two to six weeks later,” Dr. Stites said Wednesday. “I’m going to cross my fingers and hope we won’t see this surge in deaths because it’s estimated that anywhere from 65 to 75% of people have had COVID-19, and we’ve got about 67 to 65% of America that’s been vaccinated.”

Dr. Stites said this nationwide surge means another wave is on its way to the Midwest.

To keep case numbers and spread down during the summer months, KDHE announced earlier this week that it will continue offering free testing to summer camps as it did last year. Camps will have options of testing strategies and can work with a KDHE specialist to develop a plan to best fit their needs.

Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control for KU Health System, said Friday that while cases are still rising, they hope to emulate countries like South Africa and the United Kingdom where the surges in cases have not coincided with a significant increase in hospitalizations and deaths.

“We know hospitalizations are increasing. These are very slow paces,” Dr. Hawkinson said. “Numbers are going up a little bit but still very well in hand. No issues with capacity at this point. Hopefully, we can keep it that way.”

Dr. Hawkinson also noted that many employers are also beginning to dial back vaccine requirements in the area.

To date, 62.9% of Kansans have received one dose of the vaccine, and 54.9% have completed the series. Subsequent booster shots, however, are lagging, Dr. Hawkinson said. He credited part of this to COVID weariness, a motivation or exhaustion with the demands of life in the pandemic.

He urged Kansans who have yet to receive their booster shots to schedule an appointment.

“There is good data to support the fact that those boosters will continue to reduce your risk of hospitalization, severe disease and death,” Dr. Hawkinson said. “The majority of the population needs to be getting those boosters to be up to date, especially with that third dose that is a critical dose to really develop that immune response, not only to that vaccine spike but also to other variants as well.”

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/05/13/kansas-covid-19-case-numbers-trending-up-as-hospital-leaders-see-potential-surge/

Kelly uses veto authority to reject infectious disease, Medicaid and election bills

Governor’s arguments hinge on public health, transparency and separation of powers

by Tim Carpenter and Noah Taborda, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — Gov. Laura Kelly signed a bill allowing autonomous vehicles to operate on Kansas roads and vetoed legislation restricting public health officials’ response to all infectious disease outbreaks, a mandate imposing a no-bid contract for Medicaid services and limitations on the executive branch’s enforcement of election law.

Gov. Kelly began by vetoing Senate Bill 34, which was adopted during a late-night session of the Legislature and targeted mask mandates, quarantine orders and vaccination requirements that some Republican lawmakers believed undermined individual liberties during the COVID-19 pandemic. It wasn’t passed by two-thirds majorities in the House and Senate, which would be the threshold required to override a veto.

The Democratic governor said she opposed vaccine passports and COVID-19 vaccination mandates, but couldn’t accept the “one-size-fits-all approach” for all infectious diseases erupting in Kansas. For example, she said, the bill would make it more difficult for the Kansas agricultural sector to fight the highly pathogenic avian influenza.

“As a result,” she said, “this legislation creates significant safety concerns for workers, for employers, for the economy and for all Kansans. Schools could not adequately respond to an outbreak of measles in a classroom, and manufacturing facilities could not respond to a tuberculosis outbreak.”

Gov. Kelly vetoed House Bill 2387 that required her administration to halt development of an update to the state’s $3.9 billion Medicaid contracts with managed care companies coordinating services to elderly and disabled Kansans. She said a transparent, competitive bidding process was key to making certain contracts with the MCO companies provided the most value to Kansas taxpayers.

During the 2022 legislative session, Republicans sought to delay reworking KanCare contracts until after the November election in hopes a Republican was elected governor. GOP lawmakers who pushed the bill refused to identify individuals, companies or organizations in support of the delay, preferring to keep that information confidential. In addition, there was no guarantee federal regulators would approve of Kansas extending contracts into 2023.

“The language included in HB 2387 regarding the current MCO contracts is a product of closed-door dealings to push legislation that did not have a single proponent,” Gov. Kelly said. “There is little question that this effort is fraught with legal issues and jeopardizes our Medicaid program.”

This bill wasn’t approved by the House and Senate with the two-thirds margin indicating a veto override would be a certainty.

“We must favor transparency and fair competition over attempts to re-insert corruption into the state contracting process,” the governor said.

Gov. Kelly is seeking re-election in November, and her likely GOP opponent is Attorney General Derek Schmidt.

In addition, Gov. Kelly rejected House Bill 2252 that forbid the executive branch, including the governor, secretary of state or attorney general, from entering into agreements to enforce election law. She said the bill was an overreach into the executive branch’s constitutional duties, but this bill was supported by two-thirds majorities in the House and Senate.

“If passed, it would also lead to costly litigation at the expense of Kansas taxpayers,” she said.

Rep. Tatum Lee, a Ness City Republican, objected to the veto of the election bill and the COVID-19 legislation in a Facebook post shortly after the veto announcement. She called on House and Senate leadership to help override the vetoes when the Legislature returns to Topeka later this month.

“The war is real you all. We are fighting for the soul of our nation,” Lee said . “Ryckman, Hawkins, Finch in the House and Masterson in the Senate. Do they have the courage to fight back? Do they have the courage to stand?”

Gov. Kelly said she signed Senate Bill 313 which provided for the use and regulation of autonomous motor vehicles and established the Autonomous Vehicle Advisory Committee.

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/05/13/kelly-uses-veto-authority-to-reject-infectious-disease-medicaid-and-election-bills/

National labor board files complaints against 2 Kansas City area Starbucks for union busting

The complaint claims the Starbucks stores at 75th Street and I-35 in Overland Park and on the Country Club Plaza illegally terminated pro-union employees.

by Bek Shackelford-Nwanganga, Kansas News Service and KCUR

The National Board of Labor Relations (NBLR) filed a complaint Wednesday against two area Starbucks for preventing employees from exercising their legal right to organize.

The complaint, filed by District 14 of the NBLR, alleges the Starbucks at 75th Street & I-35 in Overland Park and the store on the Country Club Plaza wrongfully terminated Alydia Claypool, Maddie Doran and Michael Vestigo, and “constructively discharged” Hannah McCown for supporting union efforts.

Both stores have been at the forefront of union efforts for Starbucks in Kansas City since late January, joining a national wave of unionizing Starbucks stores. The 75th Street location is the only Starbucks to successfully unionize in the region so far.

Vestigo, who worked at the Overland Park store for more than a year and worked at a Starbucks kiosk for two years before that, said he was in shock after being fired April 1. He said he had no warning and was called to the back of the store and given a letter stating he was fired for allegedly being “violent and threatening” to a manager.

“They didn’t get my side of the story or anything like that. They just said, ‘We’re not having a conversation about this. You can collect your things and go,’” Vestigo said. “I remember just kind of feeling stunned just cause it was so out of the blue.”

Vestigo, along with the other three terminated employees, were actively pushing to unionize. During a strike at the Overland Park store in late March, Vestigo wore a wolf costume and held a sign saying, “Union Yes,” while Starbucks employees and union supporters rallied outside demanding better treatment and effectively closing the store.

He was fired just a week before his store voted to form a union.

Vestigo says he was using the company’s educational benefits and having those taken away “sucked.” He says he felt targeted by Starbucks managers because of his outspoken support of union efforts but also because he struggles to defend himself one-on-one, something he says he told managers in a meeting before he was fired.

“I don’t have a lot of confidence and have trouble standing up for myself,” Vestigo said. “I am not the person to speak on the other fired partners behalf, but they share the sentiment that they [Starbucks] targeted the most vulnerable people. They kind of turned around and threw something at me and I believe it’s because they thought that I would just kind of take it lying down and I wouldn’t really put up much of a fight.”

The NLRB complaint also alleges managers at various locations in the Kansas City region, including the 75th Street store, threatened enhanced enforcement of company policies, held anti-union discussions and threatened to take away previously promised raises. At the store on the Plaza, stricter dress codes were imposed and employees were told if they unionized they would lose future wage increases and benefits.

The complaint demands that Starbucks reimburse the former workers and submit written apologies. A virtual hearing is scheduled for July 5 at 10 a.m.

Claypool, who has since been reinstated as a Starbucks shift supervisor, said in a statement Wednesday she was elated that the NLRB filed a complaint.

“Getting the news today that these ULP charges are being taken seriously has made me cry tears of joy for the first time since the launch of this campaign,” she said. “With the termination of myself and the two other employees at [75th & I-35], it brings me great joy to see the NLRB proceeding with these ULPs. I am optimistic that we will all get the justice we believe we deserve. This is the hope we all needed today.”

The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio focused on health, the social determinants of health and their connection to public policy.
Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished by news media at no cost with proper attribution and a link to ksnewsservice.org.

See more at https://www.kcur.org/news/2022-05-12/national-labor-board-files-complaints-against-2-kansas-city-area-starbucks-for-union-busting