While the current number of COVID-19 hospitalizations at the University of Kansas Health System seems to be on a plateau, the disease has been getting worse in the area, according to doctors.
The Wyandotte County COVID-19 situation was discussed at a virtual news conference on Monday morning at the University of Kansas Health System.
Dr. David Wild, vice president of performance improvement at the University of Kansas Health System, said there have been more people getting ill and needing to come to the hospital, with more impact on the health care delivery system.
More people are being admitted to the hospital every day, he said, than in April, when it was at its previous peak.
There are now three times the number of patients with COVID-19 hospitalized with no co-existing disease than there were in March and April, he said.
While many patients still have co-existing diseases, more and more every month did not have other diseases, he said.
In addition, the older age group of patients is no longer the only one seeing deaths, according to the doctors. The age group 50 to 59 now is higher, Dr. Wild said, and there are some deaths among younger groups now. The number of deaths at the hospital since the beginning of the pandemic has been just under 50.
There is a 19 percent positivity rate in Wyandotte County and 9 percent positivity rate in Johnson County, which are considered high, particularly the Wyandotte County rate, according to the doctors.
“Compared to the state and surrounding counties, we’re getting hit really hard here,” said Dr. Erin Corriveau, deputy medical officer for Wyandotte County.
The new cases are declining on a day-to-day basis, which is good, she said. The seven-day rolling averages started to peak in mid-July and are starting to come down, she added. She is concerned about deaths, which had been brought down, then were up a little recently and are starting to come back down.
The19 percent positivity rate in Wyandotte County has been really high, she said, and a small upward trend is very concerning.
She also said she wondered if the statistics are reflecting not fewer people who have the disease, but fewer who are coming in to get tested.
Dr. Corriveau showed slides that indicated the rate of COVID-19 among Asian Americans is high, and also that there are high rates being seen among Hispanics.
Dr. Wild said that at first, KU Health System saw a high rate of African American COVID-19 patients from Wyandotte County, and that has now changed to a high rate for Hispanics.
Certain fall sports, including football, soccer and volleyball, as well as marching band, have been banned by the Unified Government Health Department. Dr. Corriveau said there are other sports that will be allowed, that are not as high contact.
She said, as a former student athlete, she understands how people feel, “but the larger team is our community and this is going to help keep everybody safer.”
They are now seeing children get sick with COVID-19, and some have been hospitalized. Even though they are not seeing a lot of deaths in children, they are seeing illness in some children that lasts a long time, and they need to keep children safe along with their parents and grandparents, she said.
Dr. Corriveau said one reason for the ban on fall sports is that they were concerned about children having long-term effects. Maybe kids with COVID-19 need EKGs (electroncardiograms) before going back to sports, she suggested.
“We really can’t let up in any age group. We’re seeing that this disease is very dangerous,” Dr. Corriveau said. They want to decrease the chances of people who are school age and also in their 20s through 40s, who are also affected.
“We just can’t see losing anybody in our county any more,” Dr. Corriveau said. Mask-wearing is how to control COVID-19, she added.
Although he said everyone is getting weary of COVID-19, Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer at the University of Kansas Health System, advised people to keep practicing hand washing, wearing masks, avoiding large gatherings and staying home when sick. It could be well past the midpoint of COVID-19, if vaccinations are available by next spring, he said.
Dr. Stites said that Dr. Deborah Birx, White House task force on coronavirus, visited this past weekend and that one of her points was that the Midwest is about to become the next Southeast, which was really hit hard recently by COVID-19. He said she advocated mandatory mask-wearing, limiting groups to 10 or fewer, no travel except for key things and businesses open only in a limited fashion.
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control at KU Health System, said there were 28 COVID-19 patients today at KU Health System, with 11 in the intensive care unit and six on ventilators.
He explained the hospital’s numbers more during the news conference today. The 28 patients are the current “census” number required by federal reporting. That number is for acute, contagious COVID-19 patients at the hospital. The number is for patients who have been there 10 days or less.
But the “census” number does not include all the COVID-19 patients at the hospital, according to Dr. Hawkinson. There are another 25 patients at KU Health System who are considered no longer contagious with COVID-19, but who are still in need of hospital care, including three on ventilators, according to Dr. Hawkinson. That makes a total of 53 patients with 14 on ventilators.
At 1 p.m. Monday, Wyandotte County reported an increase of 17 cases, for a total of 5,301 cumulative cases, according to the UG COVID-19 website. There was no change in the cumulative total of deaths, which remained at 107.
To see the KU doctors’ news conference, with more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital/videos/790559695087758.
For more information on who may be tested and what to bring, visit https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/pages/what-to-do-if-you-think-you-have-covid-19.
The UG Health Department sports order is online at https://alpha.wycokck.org/files/assets/public/health/documents/covid/08132020localhealthofficerorderregardingsports.pdf.
The Wyandotte County school start order is online at https://alpha.wycokck.org/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Information.
Wyandotte County is under a mandatory mask order and is in Phase 3 of the state’s reopening plan. For more information, residents may visit the UG COVID-19 website at https://alpha.wycokck.org/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Information or call 311 for more information.
The CDC’s COVID-19 web page is at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html.