As COVID-19 cases rise in the Greater Kansas City area and in the nation, medical professionals at the University of Kansas Health System briefly discussed what that means in terms of future restrictions.
Lance Williamson, infection prevention and control nurse supervisor at KU Health System, noted that Los Angeles became one of the first big cities over the weekend to reinstate mask mandates. He said if things become less safe, even for fully vaccinated people, that may happen here as well.
States and counties will have to take a hard look at their community numbers and make changes based on what might be needed, he said. They know that masking is an easy way to stop transmission of COVID-19, especially when they’re unsure of who is vaccinated and who is not in an area.
He also noted that it had been reported an alternate on the U.S. women’s gymnastics team had tested positive on the eve of the Olympic Games in Japan. It’s concerning, he said. They have taken a lot of precautions there, he added. There have been other COVID-19 cases reported at the Olympics, as well. Every time they see it, they think about it in their own communities and think about the risk changing here, too, he said.
Williamson said KU Health System has seen a steady increase of COVID-19 cases over the weekend, with 38 active cases hospitalized and a total of 54 COVID-19 patients. Thirteen were in the intensive care unit and five were on ventilators.
He said more information is needed to tell if COVID-19 will become a disease mostly of children in the future. On the question of schools and preventive measures, Williamson said there were some things schools could do to keep safe. In a large group of unvaccinated people, including children in school, Williamson was in favor of adults staying masked.
Dr. Paul Schroeppel, orthopedic surgeon, said the longer people continue to be unvaccinated, the longer they continue to have spikes and the longer it will be until they get back to normalcy. Everyone wants to get back to a normal life, he said.
He encouraged people to get vaccinated as soon as they become eligible.
It will be difficult as COVID-19 case numbers continue to go up to avoid masking at school, he said.
Williamson’s advice for the community was to be agile with numbers changing every day, don’t be afraid to put on a mask inside or outside, and get vaccinated as soon as possible.
Free vaccines available
The Unified Government Health Department has announced there will be free COVID-19 vaccinations at Sporting KC home matches at 7:30 p.m. July 21 and July 31. Vaccines will be available for ticketholders attending the games, who are 12 and older. People who get vaccinated will receive a free Sporting KC scarf.
Free COVID-19 vaccines will be available from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday at the Kmart vaccination site, 7836 State Ave., Kansas City, Kansas. Vaccines are free for people ages 12 and older.
For more information on the Unified Government Health Department’s vaccine schedule, see WycoVaccines.org.
Mobile vaccines can still be requested online at WycoVaccines.org or by calling 3-1-1 (913-573-5311).
Other sites available for vaccinations
Free vaccinations at KU Health System are open to the public. Current patients may use MyChart to make an appointment. Others may call 913-588-1227 or visit kansashealthsystem.com/vaccine to make an appointment to get vaccinated. KU Health System currently is vaccinating residents of Kansas and Missouri who are 12 or older, by appointment only. Those under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian throughout the appointment.
There are also pharmacies giving free COVID-19 vaccinations in Wyandotte County by appointment, when available. These include Price Chopper and Hen House pharmacies, which are now also accepting walk-in vaccinations or appointments, and are starting vaccinations for age 12 and up at those pharmacies that are giving Pfizer vaccine (see https://www.ballsfoodspharmacy.com/).
CVS has announced walk-in appointments for COVID-19 vaccine at some of its stores. Those interested in getting a vaccination at a CVS pharmacy are asked to visit a CVS website in order to make sure there is vaccine available. The website is at www.cvs.com/. Walgreens and Walmart also were listed on www.vaccines.gov as giving vaccinations.
Other pharmacies and sites giving vaccines are listed at www.vaccines.gov. The website also tells whether vaccines are in stock at the locations.
Case numbers reported
A large rise in patient numbers was reported at KU Health System. There were 38 active COVID-19 patients on Monday morning at the University of Kansas Health System, an increase of six from Friday, according to Lance Williamson, infection prevention and control nurse supervisor at KU Health System. Thirteen patients were in the intensive care unit, an increase of one from Friday. Five were on ventilators, an increase of two from Friday. Another 16 patients were hospitalized because of COVID-19 but were out of the acute infection phase, an increase of six from Friday. There were 54 total COVID patients, an increase of 12 since Friday.
Wyandotte County reported a cumulative 19,509 cases on Monday, an increase of 73 since Friday, according to the Unified Government Health Department’s COVID-19 webpage. There was a cumulative total of 300 deaths reported, the same as Friday.
On Wednesday, July 14, the Unified Government Health Department reported that 37.42 percent of Wyandotte County residents had received at least one dose of vaccine. Those completing their vaccinations totaled 32.49 percent.
The percentage of Wyandotte County residents who were age 12 and older who had received at least one dose was 46 percent.
The Mid-America Regional Council’s COVID-19 dashboard reported 181,823 cumulative COVID-19 cases on Monday in the Kansas City region. The daily average of new hospitalizations was 78.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 324,187 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Kansas on Monday, July 19, an increase of 802 since Friday, July 16. There was a total of 5,198 cumulative deaths reported statewide, an increase of one since July 16.
The KDHE reported 61,305 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Johnson County on July 19, an increase of 167 since July 16. Leavenworth County had 7,566 cases, an increase of 28 since July 16. Sedgwick County (the Wichita area) reported 58,778 cases, an increase of 124 since July 16.
The Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard on Monday night reported 34,129,941 COVID-19 cases in the United States, with 609,231 total deaths reported nationwide. There were 12,048 new cases nationwide.
Countries with new cases rising were United Kingdom, 47,848; Indonesia, 44,721; India, 38,164; Brazil, 34,126; and U.S., 12,048, according to Johns Hopkins information..
Vaccine doses reported administered in the United States Sunday, 500,910.
Vaccines administered: California, 88,920; North Carolina, 72,995; Texas, 47,327; Florida, 43,968; and New York, 33,139.
Global vaccination progress: China, 9.13 million; Japan, 3.337 million; India, 1.55 million; Brazil, 782,300; U.S., 500,900.
Free testing available
Free COVID-19 testing is available from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, July 20, at the UG Health Department’s central location, the former Kmart, 7836 State Ave., Kansas City, Kansas. Free gift cards are available to those who get a test, while supplies last.
Besides Health Department sites, free COVID-19 testing is available at several locations in Wyandotte County.
Visit gogettested.com/Kansas and https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/pages/what-to-do-if-you-think-you-have-covid-19 for more sites.
Wyandotte County residents may contact the Health Department at wycohelp.org to sign up for a test to be delivered to their home.
For more details about free COVID-19 testing offered by the UG Health Department, visit https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/pages/what-to-do-if-you-think-you-have-covid-19, https://www.facebook.com/UGHealthDept or call 3-1-1.
The Health Department’s general contact page is at https://www.wycokck.org/Health/Contact.aspx. The department’s Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/UGHealthDept.
Testing sites are at https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/pages/what-to-do-if-you-think-you-have-covid-19. There are more test sites listed on this page.
The University of Kansas Health System’s morning media update is at https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital/videos/1389448388104588.
The University of Kansas Health System COVID-19 update page is at https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital/videos/330310795391910.
The KDHE’s COVID-19 webpage is at https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/.
The KC Region COVID-19 Hub dashboard is at https://marc2.org/covidhub/.
The Wyandotte County page on the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 website is at https://bao.arcgis.com/covid-19/jhu/county/20209.html.
The Johns Hopkins Data in Motion, a presentation on critical COVID-19 data in the past 24 hours, is at https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/covid-19-daily-video.
I heard a doctor on t.v. saying there are two choices in his opinion. One was the potential $300,000 hospital bill without the shot protection vs get the two shots for free without having to live in fear everyday. The two deciding factors for me personally were the images of seeing trenches dug in NYC along with the refrigerated trucks for corpse storage – I don’t want any part of that here. I will mention too that after that second shot of Moderna I did get the chills for a few hours evening time for three evenings in a row but it was a good kind of chills. Get the shots folks – sore arms for a day or two aren’t that bad.