During a news conference on Friday morning, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, supported widespread COVID-19 testing.
The news conference was held by the University of Kansas Health System.
“Widespread testing is one of the most important factors in how we can safely get our lives back to normal and businesses can start to reopen,” Sen. Moran said during the news conference. “I have spoken directly with President Trump and a number of my colleagues in the Senate regarding testing, and I will continue to do everything I can to get more people tested in Kansas and across the country as a member of the White House Economic Recovery Task Force. For our economy to recover, we need widespread testing so Americans can feel secure in their health and safely return to work.”
“Currently, Kansas has fewer tests than many other states,” Sen. Moran said. “Dr. Stites is right when he noted the highest priority is someplace other than Kansas because of the death and hospitalization rates. This is also a testament to Kansans for their efforts to stay home, protect their neighbors and not rapidly spread this disease. However, getting more people tested in Kansas will continue to be a high priority for me. It is important for everyone to know that our healthcare and economy are linked in our effort to reopen the country.”
Dr. Steve Stites, KU Health System chief medical officer, agreed that there was a need for increased testing.
“One of the things that has happened because of limited testing…is that we had to limit testing to patients admitted to the hospital as a person under investigation, a patient in a high-risk disease category, or health care workers with possible symptoms,” Dr. Stites said. “As we get more testing availability, then we will be able to loosen those criteria and test a lot more frequently. That is really important for us to understand how the disease is acting in the public and what we need to do. I have lots of appreciation for Sen. Moran’s support and him working so hard to get more testing.”
Dr. Lee Norman, Kansas secretary of health, said a lack of testing supplies had held the state back from testing in the past, and that there is no serology testing now available that is FDA-approved. The state will still rely on the antigen testing, with a needle swab, and will do more intense contact tracing, he said.
Some rankings have put Kansas at 50th for testing, and it’s not like they’re hoarding supplies, he added. Kansas is using everything it has been able to get, he added.
Kansas has had death rates lower than 33 other states, and for hospitalizations per capita, it’s in the middle of the group, he said.
“We do need to uptick the amount of testing,” Dr. Norman said. “You can test until the cows come home, but it doesn’t do any good unless you do something about it.”
The state is bringing on 400 people to help do contact tracing of the people who test positive, he said. Those contacts can then be quarantined or isolated.
Wyandotte County health officials announced Thursday evening that they are ramping up testing now, and the state Department of Health and Environment also has recently announced it is increasing testing.
Dr. Norman said a planned mass protest for next Monday by those opposed to extending the stay-at-home order is a bad idea from a medical point of view. He said it took just one church gathering in Kansas to cause many new infections and deaths. He explained the worst thing to do is get a large group of people together to spread the virus, which until now, has not hit the metro area as bad as it has other cities. He also said Kansas is on an encouraging trend but has still not seen the peak in COVID-19 cases, which should happen by the end of April.
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control at the KU Health System cautioned that while many people are anxious for a return to normal, without a very controlled way of taking the foot off the gas, the disease will spread like wildfire. He said it’s been that tight control that’s allowed hospitals in the area to have a relatively low number of COVID-19 patients and build up adequate supplies of protective gear. He says opening society too soon could overwhelm the medical system.
At KU Health System, 36 patients were being treated for COVID-19 on Friday, up from 34 Thursday. Fifteen of those patients were in the ICU, up from 13 Thursday. Several patients have recovered and been discharged and are doing well.
The news conference is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital/videos/691924461560247/.