Category: Health

KCK district tells parents about possible school closures and late buses

Families on Thursday were asked to get ready for possible school closures in the Kansas City, Kansas, Public School district because of COVID-19.

A message was sent to parents that also advised them that school buses may be running late by 15 or 20 minutes on Friday.

“Start getting a child care plan in place now,” the message sent to parents stated.

The KCK district, along with others in the Kansas City area, has been experiencing high numbers of COVID-related illnesses recently. It also experienced staff shortages and transportation shortages.

The Bonner Springs-Edwardsville school district called off school on Thursday and Friday because of COVID, and students will return to classes on Tuesday.

The KCK district is not returning to remote learning and online learning because this is not an option allowed under Kansas law, according to the message to staff and parents.

The district’s leaders are continually evaluating the COVID situation at each of the district’s buildings, according to the message.

Parents also were asked to keep students home if they are experiencing any COVID symptoms. Masks are required at all KCK public schools.

The school district’s COVID dashboard, reflecting cases from Jan. 1 to Jan. 7, showed 110 students quarantined and 227 confirmed student cases; four staff quarantined and 155 confirmed staff cases.

Boys and girls basketball games between Schlagle and Harmon, scheduled on Friday, have been postponed, according to a social media announcement. Also, the Schlagle boys basketball game with NKC was canceled.

Monday, Martin Luther King Day, is a federal holiday and also a school district holiday. For more information, see www.facebook.com/kckschools.

In other school news, the Piper Board of Education met on Thursday night and decided to require masks for all students and staff in all district facilities, effective immediately. In addition, the quarantine period was reduced to five days after a positive test, and the district also updated protocols for those who were exposed to a positive case, according to a district social media post.

The Piper district was seeing an increased number of COVID cases recently, and also an increased absentee number, district officials said during the Zoom meeting. The vote was 6-1 on the mitigation measures. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w3vKBppdZc)

COVID case numbers

On Thursday, the University of Kansas Health System reported 115 active COVID inpatients, a decrease of eight since Wednesday. Only 14 of the current 119 COVID inpatients are fully vaccinated. One patient died since Wednesday, and the number of deaths in January was 18. There were 24 COVID patients in the intensive care unit, a decrease of one since Wednesday. Nineteen patients were on ventilators, a decrease of one since Wednesday. Another 51 patients were hospitalized because of COVID but were out of the acute infection phase, an increase of four since Wednesday. There was a total of 166 COVID patients at the hospital, a decrease of four since Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Unified Government Health Department COVID information website reported 32,812 total cumulative COVID cases, an increase of 376 cases since Wednesday, and a cumulative total of 424 deaths, an increase of two deaths since Wednesday.
On Wednesday, the UG Health Department reported that 58.63 percent of Wyandotte County residents had at least one dose of COVID vaccine, and 48.87 percent of Wyandotte County residents had completed their vaccinations. There are 63.6 percent of Wyandotte County residents age 5 and up who have at least one dose. Of those who are 65 and older, 82.7 percent have had at least one dose.

The Mid-America Regional Council’s COVID dashboard reported Thursday that there were 8,604 newly reported COVID cases in the Greater Kansas City area, a nine-county area. The average number of new hospitalizations was 246, and there were 11 newly reported deaths in the nine-county area.

The Johns Hopkins COVID-19 map reported 1.2 million vaccine doses were given out in the United States on Wednesday, in a seven-day average figure. The U.S. population is 63 percent vaccinated. Total COVID cases in the United States were at 64 million. Total deaths were at 846,459.

Vaccines and tests available

The Unified Government’s Kmart facility at 7836 State is on a new schedule, and is open for testing from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
The Kmart facility is open for free vaccines from noon to 6 p.m. on Fridays. Walk-ins are welcome. For more information, see WycoVaccines.org.


Free COVID vaccines also are available by appointment only at the Health Department building at 6th and Ann Avenue from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday.


Free COVID testing also is available from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at the Kansas National Guard Armory, 18th and Ridge.


There also are vaccines and tests available at mobile events.
The vaccines.gov website shows some other vaccination sites open in Wyandotte County.

Supreme Court blocks Biden workplace vaccine rule, allows health care workers mandate

by Jacob Fischler, Kansas Reflector

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday dealt a blow to the Biden administration’s fight against the pandemic, blocking a federal mandate that workers be vaccinated or regularly tested for COVID-19 — though the court allowed a separate rule requiring vaccinations for some health care workers.

The two rulings represented a split victory for Republican attorneys general from Ohio, Missouri, Louisiana and other states who went to court to battle the White House on its COVID-19 policies.

The emergency Occupational Safety and Health Administration mandate, which President Joe Biden announced in September, required employers with 100 or more workers to check employees’ COVID-19 vaccine status or test them regularly and require them to wear a mask on the job.

The OSHA standard took effect Monday, but the government allowed several weeks before workers were required to be fully vaccinated.

Three liberal justices, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, dissented in the OSHA opinion. The court majority sided with 27 Republican attorneys general, who claimed Congress had not given the executive branch the power to require vaccines.

“The question before us is not how to respond to the pandemic, but who holds the power to do so,” Justice Neil Gorsuch, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, wrote for the court in the workplace decision. “The answer is clear: Under the law as it stands today, that power rests with the States and Congress, not OSHA.”

But in the second decision affecting health care staff, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the court’s liberals to allow the Department of Health and Human Services requirement that workers at health care centers that receive Medicare and Medicaid funds be vaccinated.

The rulings came less than a week after the justices heard arguments on the mandates – an unusually fast turnaround for the court.

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/2022/01/13/supreme-court-blocks-biden-workplace-vaccine-rule-allows-health-care-workers-mandate/

Shawnee Mission hospital official forced to consider morgue capacity amid escalating COVID-19 surge

by Sherman Smith, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — At AdventHealth in Shawnee Mission, the number of patients being treated for COVID-19 has doubled in the past week to 82.

Another 25 people are waiting in the emergency room for a bed to become available, some for 48 hours.

Lisa Hays, the chief medical officer there, says the hospital nearly ran out of ventilators before new ones arrived this week, and the federal supply of antibody treatments used for COVID-19 patients can’t keep up with their needs.

“The other issue, a new thing for me, is morgue capacity,” Hays said. “Had to learn how many bodies our morgue could hold yesterday and determine whether that was going to be adequate for what our needs are.”

Hays joined other hospital leaders in a news briefing Wednesday hosted by the University of Kansas Health System. Pressure on medical care providers continues to build as the state sets new records for COVID-19 infections.

Hays said her staff is “on the brink.”

“Every day, when I round in the intensive care unit and check on the staff, people are in tears,” Hays said. “They’re struggling to get the community to understand how dire the situation is in the hospital and the workload that they’re taking on.”

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 27 new deaths, 22,240 new cases and 139 hospitalizations since Monday.

The number of new cases surpassed the previous two-day record of 16,341, set earlier this month. The average number of new cases for each of the past seven days is 7,448. Before the start of the month, the seven-day average had never topped 2,800 cases per day.

Catherine Satterwhite, a regional administrator for Health and Human Services, said ICU admissions typically trail infections by 14 days, and deaths trail by 21 days.

“In my head, I’m thinking it’s going to be a rough couple of weeks,” Satterwhite said.

The omicron variant has had a different effect on different parts of the country, and the Midwest is still seeing a sharp trajectory, Satterwhite said. Based on data from elsewhere in the world, health officials expect to see a sharp decline in new cases — but they don’t know when.

The number of unvaccinated will determine how long omicron hangs around, she said. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows 57.6% of Kansans are fully vaccinated, including 68.8% of adults. Those numbers trail the national averages by about 5 percentage points.

At KU Health, only 18 of the 123 patients who are being actively treated for COVID-19 are fully vaccinated.

Satterwhite said federal officials have ventilators available for Kansas hospitals, but there aren’t enough monoclonal antibodies to meet hospital needs. The federal government is deploying all of the antibodies in the stockpile and not holding any back, Satterwhite said.

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/2022/01/12/shawnee-mission-hospital-official-forced-to-consider-morgue-capacity-amid-escalating-covid-19-surge/.