Vaccines, getting the numbers counted correctly, and getting vaccination clinics to run more smoothly, were under discussion on Thursday.
At the state level, Gov. Laura Kelly announced a number of steps to bring the state’s vaccine count more into line with the actual numbers.
The state and health care providers will implement new steps next week in reporting the number of vaccines administered, according to the governor. The governor and state health secretary have said previously that there are more vaccinations taking place in Kansas than have been reported on a federal website.
Three new processes, according to the governor, will include a daily reporting snapshot for providers to report aggregate amounts and give a daily snapshot of their top-line data; improving existing reporting by requiring a flat file fix that is an Excel template file for providers who have had issues in reporting; and addressing underlying technical issues with a system-level solution that addresses the issues between provider systems, the state’s reporting software and the CDC’s reporting software.
“We want Kansans to have confidence that we are vaccinating at-risk Kansans as quickly as possible, and despite data lags, health care providers are administering all doses of vaccine to those who need them most,” Gov. Laura Kelly stated. “To fix these issues, we are working with local health departments and providers to urgently address the problem. The new processes we are implementing will allow us to spend more time and energy on getting vaccines in Kansans’ arms.”
Starting Monday providers will be required to report data daily on doses received, administered, in inventory and transferred via the daily snapshot, according to the governor. This information will give the Kansas Department of Health and Environment a clear view of where vaccines are being administered and will help surface reporting issues in KSWebIZ so they can be addressed.
Providers with identified reporting issues will be required to submit patient-level information to KSWebIZ and KDHE via flat files to reduce errors and account for doses that have been delivered but have not yet been reported as administered or in inventory.
The three actions aim to address the gap in administration data between what is seen in state and local sources and progress providers are making vaccinating Kansans, according to the governor’s office. The Kelly administration is working with the KSWebIZ vendor to identify and resolve the long-term data issues, according to the spokesman.
At the University of Kansas Health System news conference on Thursday morning, Dr. David Wild, executive vice president of performance improvement at KU Health System, discussed how vaccines get to the clinics where they are given to people.
About 10 percent of the Kansas population has now received a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while about 3.5 percent has received the second dose, he said.
He said usually, the CDC allocates the vaccine to the state on Tuesday. The KDHE proposes where the available vaccine will go on Wednesday and notifies providers on midday Wednesday, usually. Providers can bring up any concerns with it over the next 24 hours. Then on Friday, the state places orders for vaccines and tells providers what the new allocation will be.
The federal government then ships the vaccines. It usually takes one to five days for the local health departments and vaccine providers to receive it, he said. After vaccines are administered, the doses are reported through the state’s WebIZ program, with inventory numbers going to the CDC’s VaccineFinder.
Dr. Wild said the KU Health System learns by Friday of each week how many doses of the vaccine will arrive the following week, usually by Monday or Tuesday. There is only a small window of time to contact people and get them to come in for a vaccine, he said. He said they try to get them all distributed within seven days.
The KU health system has been vaccinating some of its patients recently, and also signed up others interested in getting the vaccine. The patients were selected randomly from their patients who are in the state’s current phase. COVID-19 vaccinations have been given at clinics, including some at the health center’s Johnson County campus.
Through Tuesday’s clinics, KU Health System has administered more than 18,400 first doses and more than 10,000 second doses, Dr. Wild said. They are receiving 900 to 2,000 doses a week, he said.
With the timing of the vaccine’s arrival, they had to do weekend vaccination clinics along with clinics on Thursday and Friday, and last weekend was the first weekend clinic at the Indian Creek Johnson County campus, he said.
That clinic made the news as people over 65 waited outdoors in sub-freezing weather to receive a vaccination.
“We learn things very quickly about how the process will work,” Dr. Wild said.
Out of that experience, they changed their process in real time, he said, to make sure the line was not outside and to manage the flow of patients into the clinic to match the number of people who can be vaccinated at one time.
He said they learned people were arriving hours before their scheduled vaccination time because they were worried the vaccine would run out or they were worried about the weather. If there is an appointment scheduled, there will be a dose, he said. It makes it more difficult when people arrive early, he said.
He also said people brought others with them who didn’t have appointments, to ask if there was extra vaccine available. That “gummed up the system,” he said. It slowed the process down to have conversations with those persons who didn’t have an appointment and tell them vaccine was not available for them.
Also, he said wherever people got their first dose, they will get their second dose. They match first and second doses closely, and they don’t have a second dose for people who didn’t get their first dose at KU Health System, he said.
Some clinics schedule only first-dose or second-dose days, he said. Some may be a little behind, he added, and it is OK if people get their second dose a little late.
Also at Thursday’s KU Health System news conference, Dr. Carrie Wieneke discussed COVID-19 vaccinations for pregnant patients, and said she feels it’s safe for pregnant women to get the vaccine. Other issues with COVID-19 and pregnancy also were discussed.
Gov. Kelly announced on Wednesday that the state would now prioritize vaccinating teachers and school employees, sending more vaccine to local health departments for the vaccinations.
On Thursday, Janell Friesen, a public information officer for the Unified Government Health Department, stated in answer to a question that because Wyandotte County is already nearly done with vaccinating kindergarten through 12th grade educators and staff, the Health Department here will not be receiving additional vaccine supply for that purpose.
The 3,900 vaccines that was listed on the state’s COVID-19 vaccine page for Wyandotte County is not the number the UG Health Department is receiving, according to Friesen. The amount of vaccine currently being received by the UG Health Department is 1,950 doses, the same amount as the past few weeks, she said.
Friesen stated that the Health Department is receiving the same number of vials next week, about 1,950. However, Pfizer vials, which were previously marked as five doses, now are marked as six doses, and might be counted as 2,400 doses, according to Friesen. It’s not an actual change in the number of vials received here.
The Health Department has two vaccination clinics operating, one at the former Kmart building at 78th and State, and the other at the former Best Buy store near 105th and Parallel Parkway.
COVID-19 case numbers reported
The total number of COVID-19 active and recovering COVID-19 patients at the University of Kansas Health System was 69 on Thursday, down one since Wednesday, according to Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control. There were 33 active COVID-19 patients in the hospital, an increase of two from Wednesday. Eight of those patients were in the intensive care unit, the same as Wednesday, with two of those on ventilators, the same number as Wednesday. There were another 36 patients hospitalized because of COVID-19 who were out of the acute phase, a decrease of three since Wednesday.
Wyandotte County reported an increase of 16 COVID-19 cases on Thursday, Feb. 18, according to the Unified Government’s COVID-19 webpage. There were a cumulative 17,437 cases. There was a cumulative total of 262 deaths reported, an increase of 15 since Wednesday.
The Mid-America Regional Council’s COVID-19 dashboard reported 154,449 cumulative COVID-19 cases on Thursday. The daily average of new hospitalizations was 97.
The state of Kansas reported 288,717 COVID-19 cases statewide on Wednesday, an increase of 1,267 cases since Monday, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. There were an additional 115 deaths reported, with a cumulative total of 4,521.
The Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard on Thursday night reported 27,895,979 cases in the United States, with 493,098 total deaths nationwide.
COVID-19 tests scheduled Friday
Unified Government COVID-19 testing and vaccine sites are scheduled to be open on Friday. Those seeking vaccinations need to have an appointment, while those seeking COVID-19 testing may walk in and get a test kit.
The Unified Government Health Department’s COVID-19 test site at the former Kmart building at 78th and State will be open Friday, Feb. 19, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Appointments are not needed for COVID-19 tests there on Friday. To see if there is any change to the schedule, visit https://www.facebook.com/UGHealthDept.
The Health Department is offering saliva COVID-19 tests to the public.
Tests from the Health Department are free for those who live or work in Wyandotte County.
The tests are open to asymptomatic people as well as those who have symptoms or have been exposed to COVID-19. Check with the UG Health Department’s Facebook page to see if there have been any changes in the schedule. Bring something that shows that you live or work in Wyandotte County, such as a utility bill.
The Pierson Community Center testing site at 831 S. 55th is open at 9 a.m. Friday, Feb. 19, according to the www.gogettested.com/Kansas website. Appointments should be made at the website.
Wyandotte County residents who are interested in getting a COVID-19 vaccine may fill out a survey form at the UG Health Department at https://us.openforms.com/Form/2f2bcc68-3b6a-450b-9007-d39819db6572. Residents will be contacted to make an appointment when vaccine becomes available. The Health Department currently is vaccinating high-contact critical workers, as well as residents over 65.
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.
Saliva testing is now offered at the UG Health Department. For more information, visit https://alpha.wycokck.org/files/assets/public/health/documents/covid/02042021-ugphd-saliva-testing-available.pdf.
The KU doctors’ news conference is online at https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital/videos/148007833829167.
The University of Kansas Health System COVID-19 update page is at https://www.kansashealthsystem.com/patient-visitor/covid19-update.
For more information about how Wyandotte County residents over 85 can get a vaccine at the Health Department site, visit https://alpha.wycokck.org/files/assets/public/health/documents/covid/02032021_wycovaccinationsage85.pdf.
Vaccine data for the state of Kansas is at https://www.kansasvaccine.gov/158/Data.
Cards and letters of encouragement for caregivers at KU Health System may be sent to Share Joy, care of Patient Relations, 4000 Cambridge St., Mailstop 1021, Kansas City, Kansas, 66160. Emails can be sent to [email protected].
Wyandotte County is under a mandatory mask and social distancing order.
The UG COVID-19 webpage is at https://alpha.wycokck.org/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Information.
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.