Health officials today said that a COVID-19 patient has been admitted at the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas, and they urged residents not to panic but to take steps to be responsible for themselves.
“To stay safe, the best thing we can do is what we do ourselves,” said Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer at the University of Kansas Health System.
And that included fairly simple things, he said: Wash your hands really well, cough into your elbow, clean off surfaces, and if you are ill, stay home. Face masks are not recommended unless the patient is sick.
“You own your own preparedness,” Dr. Lee Norman, Kansas Department of Health and Environment secretary, said.
Dr. Stites said the COVID-19 patient was isolated and has been placed in a special unit at KU Hospital designed for emerging infections, to protect the patient and all staff, patients and visitors.
The family members of the patient at KU Hospital are under voluntary quarantine, according to health officials.
Over the weekend, there was an announcement from state officials that one Johnson County person had tested positive for COVID-19.
While health officials today did not talk about personal information about the patient at KU Hospital, Dr. Norman said there was currently only one patient diagnosed with COVID-19 in the state of Kansas.
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, director of inpatient critical care, infectious diseases, at KU Health Services, said those who are at home and showing symptoms of the coronavirus-19, if they need a higher level of care, should call their primary care provider first. Some of the symptoms could be a cough, fever and shortness of breath.
A telephone call gives the provider the opportunity to be prepared for the patient’s visit, and also, the primary care provider can tell the patient what step to take next. If the patient needs emergency care, the patient may call 911.
Dr. Norman said patients also could call their county health department to help expedite matters.
Dr. Stites also said any hospital should be equipped to handle infectious disease cases such as COVID-19.
Dr. Norman said there is no community spread of the COVID-19 in Kansas at this time, but it probably would get worse in Kansas in the next few weeks, and that the state is prepared.
Dr. Hawkinson said KU Hospital has had procedures and protocols in place for years to handle infectious diseases. The health officials added that KU Hospital handles other infectious diseases every day.
He said some of the people who get the COVID-19 virus do not have any symptoms, some are mildly ill, while a small number become severely ill.
Older patients 50 and older, especially 70 and older, and patients who have underlying health conditions are more at risk of progressive disease, he said.
The KDHE is testing from four to six Kansas cases a day for COVID-19, Dr. Norman said. About 80 people in Kansas are currently being monitored on voluntary isolation or voluntary quarantine, according to Dr. Norman, but they are not confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Testing is not yet available at local labs or in doctors’ offices, but Dr. Norman said he expected that tests for COVID-19 would become commercially available in the next week or two.
Dr. Norman said he had been in communication with the vice president, and learned that development of vaccines and antivirals are in process, and probably will not be available for six to 12 months.
More information about COVID-19 is at the KDHE website at http://www.kdheks.gov/coronavirus/index.htm.
The Centers for Disease Control COVID-19 page is at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/summary.html.
To see a video of today’s news conference at KU Hospital, visit https://twitter.com/KUHospitalNews.
For more information from KU Health Systems, see https://www.medicalnewsnetwork.org/NewsNetwork/DocTalk/C/Patient%20with%20COVID-19%20Admitted%20to%20The%20University%20of%20Kansas%20Hospital