Without more masking and vaccinations, America will see an even bigger surge in COVID-19 cases in November and December, according to Dr. Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Clinic’s vaccine research group.
Dr. Poland made his remarks during “Open Mics with Dr. Stites” on Wednesday morning at the University of Kansas Health System.
“We seem as a nation to have lost our capacity for critical reasoning and thinking,” Dr. Poland said. “This has been an amazing, and I think wrongheaded experiment. In the midst of the worst pandemic that any of us have seen in our lifetimes, in the face of the most contagious variant we’ve ever seen, let’s ban masks and bring children together and crowd them into schools and see what happens.”
Since January 2020, one of every 490 Americans has died of COVID, about one every 60 seconds, Dr. Poland said.
Life expectancy in the United States has decreased a year and a half to two years, and about three years for African Americans, he said.
The last time that happened was World War II, and it was called a world war and prosecuted as a war, according to Dr. Poland.
“This is quite different,” he said.
While Americans can recognize the danger to their children, for example, from a deadly snake, some apparently do not recognize the same deadly danger of a virus.
There were 250,000 infections in children last week in America, and over 1,000 schools had to stop in-person learning, going back to distance learning, he said.
“We act as if there is no pandemic,” Dr. Poland said. “And that is just absurd by any lens you want to look through.”
“When you have as large a number of people unvaccinated as we do in the U.S., you now cannot control the pandemic,” he said. “In my view, some would disagree with me, we have given up our opportunity to eliminate this from the U.S.”
Dr. Poland said in a crowded outdoor venue such as a football stadium packed with 75,000 fans, he would wear a mask.
He said he knows that others would not wear a mask because the outdoors have been shown to be safer than indoors, but some health officials now are changing their advice to wearing a mask outdoors in crowds of 500 or more.
Dr. Poland said some Americans have been looking at a mask, which is a medical tool, as some sort of marker of authoritarianism, political freedom or economic bondage.
“That’s just wrong thinking and has cost us tremendously,” he said.
With the Delta variant, 90 percent of the United States might have to be vaccinated to reach herd immunity, he said, along with masking and travel restrictions.
It’s not known if the new Mu variant of COVID will be worse than the Delta variant, but apparently it is growing, having started with a few infections and grown to more than 2,000 in 41 states in the U.S. It’s also in 49 countries.
Dr. Poland advised anyone who is vaccine-hesitant to go to any American academic medical website and find reliable information about COVID-19 there.
“Right now, an American dies every 60 seconds of COVID,” Dr. Poland said. “That need not be.”
Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer at KU Health System, stressed the importance of masking and getting a COVID vaccine.
“What we can figure out is masking works, it’s proved every day in the hospital,” he said.
Kids need to be wearing masks in schools, he said.
“The answer is so darn simple, if we just put a mask on and get vaccinated, we could avert this crisis,” he said.
To see a video with more information from this update, visit https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital/videos/381196560236052.
Vaccines, tests available
COVID-19 testing will continue on Thursday, Sept. 9, in Wyandotte County.
The former Kmart building at 7836 State Ave., a Unified Government Health Department vaccination site, will be open for testing from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and for free COVID-19 vaccinations from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. There are incentives being offered for Wyandotte County residents, while supplies last.
Mobile vaccines can be requested online at WycoVaccines.org or by calling 3-1-1 (913-573-5311). For more information on the Unified Government Health Department’s vaccine schedule, see WycoVaccines.org.
Free testing and vaccinations are available from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 9, at Vibrant Health Argentine, 1428 S. 32nd St., Kansas City, Kansas. Appointments are not required.
COVID-19 vaccines and tests are available at other locations in Wyandotte County, including some pharmacies. For locations and availability, visit www.vaccines.gov.
COVID-19 testing from WellHealth will be available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 9, and through Friday at the Kansas National Guard Armory, 100 S. 20th. The site is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Free vaccinations at KU Health System are open to the public, and appointments are required. 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.
A special vaccine event is planned from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 11 at the Area Agency on Aging community room, 849 B N. 47th, (Indian Springs area), Kansas City, Kansas. The Unified Government Health Department is presenting the event with the Area Agency on Aging. Free COVID-19 vaccines, $50 gift cards for Wyandotte County residents who get vaccinated, while supplies last, and a free lunch will be available. For a free ride to the event, call 913-262-5190, with the code VACS, or contact UG transit at 913-573-8351.
Case numbers reported
The University of Kansas Health System reported 100 total COVID-19 patients on Wednesday, Sept. 8, a decrease of six since Tuesday, according to Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control. Fifty-five patients with the active virus were inpatients on Wednesday, a decrease of four from Tuesday. Only eight were vaccinated. Sixteen COVID patients were in the intensive care unit on Wednesday, a decrease of one since Tuesday. Nine patients were on ventilators, a decrease of two. Forty-five other patients were still hospitalized from COVID, but were out of the acute infection phase, a decrease of two since Tuesday.
Wyandotte County reported a cumulative 22,993 cases on Wednesday, Sept. 8, an increase of 12 cases since Tuesday, Sept. 7, according to the Unified Government Health Department’s COVID-19 webpage. There were a cumulative total of 338 deaths on Wednesday, the same as Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Sept. 8, the Unified Government Health Department reported that 47.37 percent of Wyandotte County residents had received at least one dose of vaccine. Those completing their vaccinations totaled about 40.52 percent.
The percentage of Wyandotte County residents who were age 12 and older who had received at least one dose was 58.3 percent.
The Mid-America Regional Council reported 203,640 cases in Greater Kansas City, a nine-county area. There were a total of 2,737 deaths. The daily average of new hospitalizations was 133.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 382,850 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Kansas on Wednesday, Sept. 8, an increase of 5,727 since Friday, Sept. 3, (the second most recent reporting date for state totals). There was a total of 5,693 cumulative deaths reported statewide, an increase of 63 since Sept. 3.
The KDHE reported 71,224 cumulative COVID-19 cases in Johnson County on Sept. 8, an increase of 698 since Sept. 3. Leavenworth County had 9,373 cases on Sept. 8, an increase of 139 since Sept. 3. Sedgwick County (the Wichita area) reported 69,756 cases on Sept. 8, an increase of 1,270 since Sept. 3.
On Friday, the KHDE reported 10,820 cumulative cases in Douglas County (the Lawrence area), an increase of 183 since Sept. 3. Riley County (the Manhattan area) had 7,236 cumulative cases, an increase of 60 since Sept. 3. Shawnee County (the Topeka area) had 22,876 cumulative cases, an increase of 439 cases since Sept. 3.
On Wednesday night, there were a cumulative 40,456,683 COVID-19 cases in the United States, with a cumulative 652,654 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.
Links
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 testing 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://www.facebook.com/UGHealthDept or call 3-1-1.
To view the mask order in Kansas City, Kansas, visit https://www.wycokck.org/files/assets/public/health/documents/covid/mask-mandate-resolution-r-47-21-effective-august-6-through-september-16-2021.pdf and https://www.wycokck.org/files/assets/public/health/documents/covid/ug-issues-mask-order-for-kck-and-other-portions-of-wyco.pdf.