Category: Health

Kansas doctors warn of lax approach to coronavirus variants

by Noah Taborda, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — Doctors with the University of Kansas Health System warn of a lack of preparation surrounding a COVID-19 subvariant driving rising case numbers.

The BA.5 variant has led health care providers in eastern Kansas to report levels similar to surges seen with Delta and Omicron. Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer for the University of Kansas Health System, said the loosening of disease prevention protocols could be setting communities up for failure.

“Knowing that we are seeing a lack of boosters going into arms, and Paxlovid isn’t quite working as well, and the monoclonal antibodies aren’t quite what they were before, I just wonder, are we setting ourselves up for some problems this fall?” Dr. Stites said.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 7,519 new COVID-19 cases and five new deaths in the past week.

Without full vaccination and booster shots, variants will continue to spread, said Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control for the KU Health System. In Kansas, 62.8% of the total population is fully vaccinated, and 45.6% has at least one booster shot. For Kansas adults, the vaccination rate is 73.7%.

“There’s just so much spread, but the other thing is that we know that there are animal spillovers that can occur and then occur back to humans as well,” Dr. Hawkinson said. “You’re just going to have so many opportunities for this virus to be selected out, for any one variant to be self-selected out. So think we are in for a long road as far as watching and monitoring for variants.”

KU Health System doctors said wastewater testing confirmed COVID-19 is on the rise in the region. Numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show hospitalization is on the rise across the country, including in Kansas.

Dr. Joseph LeMaster, medical director and health officer for Johnson County, said assumptions based on national data that the pandemic was over led to a return to old practices. He said the wastewater testing indicates actual infections may be much higher than reported numbers.

LeMaster said he was unsure if the board of commissioners would require masks in Johnson County schools.

“We’ve continued to recommend the strong use of masks and all the other mitigation efforts and have never really changed our recommendations, but the mandates in the schools last year were predominantly due to the lack of availability of vaccines for the youngest populations,” he said.

Patrick Sallee, president and CEO of Vibrant Health in Wyandotte County, said the public was set to repeat the same things experienced at the beginning of the pandemic. The brunt of this, he said, would be felt by under-resourced communities.

Carlton Abner, associate provost of Campus Health and Wellness at Kansas City University, said convincing people to get vaccinated necessitates restoring trust in underserved communities.

“It most likely is going to be establishing that trust, one person or small group at a time,” Abner said. “It’s going to probably require very intimate contact within those communities and conversations that are extended over a period of time to just get people across the line.”

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/2022/07/27/kansas-doctors-warn-of-lax-approach-to-coronavirus-variants/

KU research finds association between a state’s generosity with food benefits, child welfare

by Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — University of Kansas researchers and colleagues at two other universities reported every 5% increase in enrollment in the federal nutrition assistance program for low-income families could reduce the number of children a state placed in foster care or protective services from 7.6% to 14.3%.

The 50-state study of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, indicated an association between state-by-state policy decisions guiding enrollment in SNAP and movement of children into programs designed to protect their welfare. The study covering 2004 to 2016 found states with more generous SNAP policies had fewer children in child protective services and foster care.

The findings published in the journal JAMA Network Open suggested increasing availability and stability of SNAP may unlock population health returns by preventing child neglect or maltreatment and reducing costly government intervention.

In Kansas, eligibility for SNAP was narrowed under the administration of Gov. Sam Brownback during a period in which the volume of children in foster care grew to record levels. Brownback joined with legislators in arguing reform was necessary for states to help people break cycles of dependency.

“Having access to the social safety net has an effect on child abuse,” said Donna Ginther, professor of economics at KU. “With so many children in low-income households, poverty is what typically gets people more engaged with child protective services.”

The 2022 Legislature declined an attempt by Democrats and social service organizations to repeal some regulatory obstacles in Kansas to securing SNAP aid. The Legislature and Gov. Laura Kelly did adopt a law to gradually eliminate the state’s 6.5% sales tax on groceries.

Ginther said reducing sales tax on groceries contributed to reduction in food insecurity among low-income households in the same way broadening access to SNAP could curtail food insecurity.

The work by researchers at KU, Ohio State University and University of Maryland was funded by a 2016 grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The researchers controlled for other factors influencing child protective services caseloads, including the opioid epidemic.

“Previous researchers have shown that if you give people a social safety net when they’re children, then in the long run, those kids do better,” said Ginther, director of the Institute for Policy and Social Research. “They get more education and are more likely to work and be productive members of society. So you can think of the SNAP program as an investment in the future.”

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND4.0.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/briefs/ku-research-finds-association-between-a-states-generosity-with-food-benefits-child-welfare/

Early demand for under-5 COVID-19 vaccines promising amid rising case numbers, Kansas doctors say

by Noah Taborda, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — As COVID-19 case numbers of approach levels not seen since February, Kansas doctors are encouraging parents to get their children vaccinated.

A month removed from the vaccine receiving emergency use authorization for children younger than 5, Danielle Johnson, a clinical psychologist with the University of Kansas Health System, said many pediatricians’ offices are running out of the shot. She says this is a good sign for demand and critical with more children being infected.

Johnson’s three children, including her 5-year-old daughter, have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

“They understood the risks of having COVID, and so we wanted to make sure that we got them as safe as possible,” Johnson said. “They have all their other vaccines. They wear seatbelts when they’re in the car. They wear a helmet on their bicycle. So, we do things to keep them safe and this is another measure to keep them safe.”

Last month, both Moderna and Pfizer received emergency use authorizations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Subsequently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off on the vaccination for children younger than 5.

A federal advisory committee determined the benefits of both vaccines outweigh any risks after they were well-tolerated by children who received them during clinical trials. Under the FDA authorization, the Moderna vaccine will consist of two shots, while the Pfizer vaccine consists of three shots.

At Children’s Mercy Hospitals, intensive care units are filling up, particularly with those needing treatment for COVID-19. While children may be infected at a lesser rate, the omicron variant has proven more infectious for young Kansans, making the vaccine approval timing essential, said Dr. Ryan Smith, a pediatrician with KU Health System.

He said one sign parents should take comfort in is that children report lesser side effects of the vaccine than adults.

“A big part of that is the vaccine developers being very cautious with the dose they provide to kids because, again, when we’re talking about young people, we need to be very, very cautious to the safety and efficacy,” Dr. Smith said. “I think that everything that the vaccine developers have done, it tells me that it’s safe and effective.”

After receiving the vaccine, children must wait 15 minutes to monitor for any severe, but rare, allergic reactions.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment has reported 819,675 COVID-19 cases and 8,957 deaths. KDHE recorded 7,346 new cases in the previous week.

Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer for KU Health System, said heat maps of the country suggest the spread of the virus is accelerating across America. In Kansas, Johnson and Wyandotte counties are both in the red zone, meaning infection protection protocols could be around the corner.

“Remember that we don’t have the same public testing as we had before — so many of the tests are at-home — but in these reported cases, the numbers are reportedly probably four to eight times higher than that across the country,” Dr. Stites said. “We may actually have a much larger spike of new cases than we are actually able to measure because public health-wise, we’re not doing (testing).”

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/2022/07/18/early-demand-for-under-5-covid-19-vaccines-promising-amid-rising-case-numbers-kansas-doctors-say/