Doctors at the University of Kansas Health System today marked the two-year anniversary of COVID-19 in the Kansas City area.
It was two years ago that the health system saw its first COVID-19 patient, according to doctors.
Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer at KU Health, said he was old enough to have lived through two pandemics, and the HIV pandemic was awful. Eighty percent of the HIV patients died in their first hospitalization.
There was a lot of political rancor around HIV, as there is around COVID-19, and it feels different today because of social media and the internet, he added.
It was easier to avoid HIV because people knew what to do, Dr. Stites said. With COVID-19, the risk was everywhere, making it a greater challenge to try to control.
“The challenge for us with COVID has been all the degrees of misinformation out there,” Dr. Stites said. “Just a lot of made-up facts.”
It made it a challenge, with the internet a hub of misinformation.
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control, said it has been a whirlwind. Two years ago, he had just returned to town from a Mayo Clinic disease course, where they had talked about infection prevention.
It escalated quickly, and hasn’t slowed down much, he said. But it has gotten better.
The infection prevention procedures are still the things that can keep people safe, Dr. Hawkinson said.
Dr. Stites said there was so much that they didn’t know when the COVID-19 disease first came to the area.
KU Health System started a morning medical update, a news conference, a few years ago on COVID-19 because they were getting so many calls from journalists, and they couldn’t have the doctors answering questions all day.
On March 7, 2020, the KU Health System got its first COVID-19 patient. Then a month later, there was the first surge, from spring break, with 41 cases, Dr. Hawkinson said.
The next surge hit in Thanksgiving 2020, with 114 cases, he said. Around that time the first COVID vaccinations began to be distributed, and numbers began to decline with vaccinations and masks, he said.
In May 2021, the surge returned, with 76 new cases. The next surge was at the start of the new year in 2022, with Omicron, he said.
On Jan. 24, 2022, there were 154 new cases of COVID reported at the health system. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that the numbers started to drop off, Dr. Hawkinson said.
Dr. Stites said each time there was a new COVID strain, they got hit again.
Dr. Hawkinson said he hoped there would be some seasonality to the spread of the virus, but it still remains to be seen because the virus spreads so easily. He wasn’t sure how long the COVID-19 pandemic would last.
The doctors also discussed how to travel safely with a travel agent, as people are beginning to plan vacations.
Kathy Sudeikis, vice president of Acendas Travel, recommended that people who travel by air still wear masks, especially N-95 or KN-95 masks.
Airlines are still requiring masks, and there is talk about some of the mask guidelines expiring later in March, although the guidelines also might be renewed.
Sudeikis also recommended sanitizer wipes and hand sanitizers when traveling by air.
To view more of this discussion, visit https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital/videos/4885632794883657.
COVID case numbers
Active infections have declined over the past two weeks at KU Health, according to Dr. Hawkinson.
KU Health System on Monday morning reported a decrease in its COVID-19 hospitalization numbers, according to Dr. Hawkinson. There were 21 active COVID inpatient infections, a decrease from 33 on Friday, with four in the intensive care unit and two on ventilators. Fifty-seven other COVID patients were hospitalized, but were no longer in the acute infection phase, down six from Friday, he said.
On Monday, Wyandotte County had 39,774 cumulative positive COVID cases, and 480 deaths, according to information from the UG’s COVID hub website. It was an increase of 21 cases and one death since Friday.
According to past information from the Unified Government Health Department, COVID cases peaked about Jan. 11, 2022, in Wyandotte County, at a rate of about 645 per day.
Free COVID testing and vaccines available
Free COVID testing and vaccines are available at different sites in Wyandotte County.
The former Kmart at 7836 State Ave. is open for free COVID vaccines from noon to 6 p.m. Friday, March 11.
Free tests also are available at the former Kmart from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, March 8.
Free tests also are available from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 8, at the Kansas National Guard Armory, 100 S. 20th, Kansas City, Kansas.
Vibrant Health has a free COVID testing clinic at the Cordell D. Meeks Jr. Clinic, 4313 State Ave., from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 8. PCR nasal swab tests will be available. Also available will be free COVID-19 vaccines for ages 12 and older.
For more information, including the testing schedules for other days, visit www.wycokck.org/covid-19.
To find other testing sites in Kansas, visit https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/280/COVID-19-Testing.
To find other vaccine sites, visit https://www.vaccines.gov/.
