A new bipartisan effort has been launched by legislators to stop the spread of COVID-19.
State Rep. Kathy Wolfe Moore, D-36th Dist., is leading a bipartisan legislative effort to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Rep. Wolfe Moore and Rep. Susan Concannon, R-Beloit, joined together to lead the effort. So far, 63 legislators from both parties have signed on to a letter urging people to wear masks and socially distance in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19, Rep. Wolfe Moore said.
Rep. Kathy Wolfe Moore
“We felt that we as a legislative body should unite as Democrats and Republicans and ask people to be the first line of defense against COVID, so our front-line health care workers do not have to be the last line of defense,” Rep. Wolfe Moore said. “Across the state, all kinds of efforts are going on to get the word out.”
The letter reads, in part: “We have reached a tipping point in the battle with COVID-19. If widespread community transmission continues to increase, our hospitals will be unable to meet the health care needs of Kansans across the state. We need people to change their behaviors and act fast to curb the spread because our status quo is not working and the implications are dire.
“This is not a COVID-19 crisis. This is a health care crisis. This holiday season, the greatest kindness you can give to your loved ones is doing your part to preserve their health. Wear your mask; wash your hands; stay home as much as possible; and keep your distance. Lives depend on it,” the letter continued.
“As we enter the winter months, cases continue to rise and without action, this will continue. It is critical we reignite a sense of duty and ownership to do all we can to slow the spread of this virus to protect the health and safety of individuals and their loved ones. While we cannot change the hearts and minds of everyone, we each can take personal responsibility to make changes that will ultimately be lifesaving.
“We are united in our message:
• “While the news about vaccines gives us all hope, we must take steps NOW to bend the curve, curtail widespread community transmission and ultimately decrease hospitalizations so that care is available for all.
• “We support the efforts across our region and Kansas to take additional steps to practice the pillars of infection prevention. We support wearing masks; washing of hands; avoiding large social gatherings; and keeping appropriate social distance. Lives depend on all of us practicing these behaviors.
• “Masking guidelines are a critical step forward in this crisis moment.
• “As your elected officials, we join to double down on our efforts – we know this is hard and you are tired – but it is more important than ever.
• “We need positive responses to these “calls to action” to ensure we have a safe holiday season for ‘ALL.’
“It has been a long and hard 2020 and COVID-19 has affected all of us. As we approach the New Year there is great hope. But we are still months away from turning the corner on this pandemic. We all need to find the will and discipline to finish this fight.
“We the undersigned commit to promoting and practicing the pillars of infection control and doing our part to slow and eventually stop the spread of the virus. We respectfully request you to join us in this fight.
“Let us make this a happy and safe holiday season for all of our families, friends, and neighbors.”
Signing the letter from Wyandotte County were Rep. Wolfe Moore; Rep. Louis Ruiz, D-31st Dist.; Rep. Pam Curtis, D-32nd Dist; Rep. Valdenia Winn, D-34th Dist.; Rep. Broderick Henderson, D-35th Dist.; Rep. Tom Burroughs, D-37th Dist; and Sen. Pat Pettey, D-6th Dist.
Wyandotte County will keep the 14-day quarantine rule in place here, not adopting a shorter CDC guideline that was released on Wednesday.
Dr. Allen Greiner, Wyandotte County health officer, said they have looked at all the evidence and they do not feel the scientific evidence is there to justify shortening the quarantine at this time.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment continues to recommend a 14-day quarantine, and Wyandotte County will be going along with the KDHE recommendation for now, with the 12- to 14-day quarantine, Dr. Greiner said.
Dr. Greiner made his remarks at the 7 p.m. Unified Government Commission remote meeting on Thursday, Dec. 3.
The CDC on Wednesday recommended a 7-day to 10-day quarantine, depending on testing results.
The KDHE has stated it will continue to recommend the 14-day quarantine period for those exposed to COVID-19 because the incubation period of the disease has not changed.
The CDC said after 10 days in quarantine, the chance to transmit the virus is about 1 to 5.5 percent, Dr. Greiner said. A person who doesn’t get tested for COVID can do a 10-day quarantine and then come out of quarantine, under the new CDC guidance. The CDC also said a person could come out of quarantine after seven days if the PCR test is negative, he said. The chance of infecting others after the seven-day quarantine is higher, possibly 5 to 12 percent, he added.
“We just don’t understand why they have done this,” he said. Wyandotte County will go along with the KDHE guidance and the 14-day quarantine.
Dr. Greiner said the evidence for the 14-day quarantine is strong and the public knows the 14-day quarantine guidance. He also felt the CDC should have waited until after the holidays to announce any shortening of the quarantines.
Some other counties may change to this revised guidance, but Wyandotte County will not, he said.
The KDHE issued a news release stating that individual counties could choose whether to go with the CDC’s shortened quarantines or could continue the 14-day quarantines. The KDHE recommended the 14-day quarantine.
“KDHE continues to recommend the 14-day quarantine and monitoring after being exposed to COVID-19,” Dr. Lee Norman, KDHE secretary, said in a news release. “The incubation for this disease is still 14 days. The guidance is being changed at a federal level to encourage more people to get tested and encourage better compliance with quarantines.”
Dr. Norman stated in the news release that long-term care facility residents and Kansas prison inmates would not be eligible for the shortened quarantines, no matter what county they are in.
In a news release, the UG Health Department stated that COVID-19 continues to be a real threat to Wyandotte County residents.
“It can take up to 14 days after exposure to the virus for someone to develop COVID-19. That has not changed,” said Elizabeth Groenweghe, chief epidemiologist with the UG Health Department, in the news release. “Reducing the quarantine timeline could increase the risk for further COVID-19 spread in our community. If you have been exposed to COVID-19, the best way to protect the people you care about is to quarantine for a full 14 days.”
UG Health Department epidemiologists and health officers examined the new CDC guidelines and the latest COVID-19 evidence, and determined that the safest and most fact-based approach would be to continue with a 14-day quarantine period at this time. According to the Health Department, this quarantine protocol means:
• Individuals with a known exposure to COVID-19 should stay home for 14 days after they were exposed. They should monitor for symptoms. • Exposure means someone has been in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19 (within 6 feet for a total of 10 minutes or more during a 24 hour period, during the time the person was infectious) • These individuals should get tested for COVID-19 at 7 to 9 days after exposure, then return home to complete their quarantine, and continue to monitor for symptoms.
For more information, Wyandotte County residents may visit wycokck.org/COVID-19 or call 3-1-1.
Gov. Laura Kelly on Wednesday said that the first shipments of COVID-19 vaccine could arrive in Kansas as soon as mid-December.
She said at a 4 p.m. news conference Wednesday that vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna could be authorized, with emergency use authorization, by the FDA as soon as Dec. 10 and Dec. 14. A third vaccine, from AstraZeneca, also is in trial, with no date for emergency use authorization set yet.
Kansas is estimated to receive its first shipment of about 24,000 doses from Pfizer, Gov. Kelly said. A Moderna vaccine with about 49,000 doses would be expected to arrive in the next week, she said, and both would continue to arrive on a weekly basis.
She said Kansas is preparing to receive 150,000 doses by the end of December. Since two doses are required per person, one earlier and one later, that means 75,000 people could be vaccinated in Kansas from doses received this month, according to the governor.
She said the Kansas vaccine distribution framework is in line with the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommendations. The state’s vaccine plan is online at https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/284/COVID-19-Vaccine.
“Importantly, the vaccine will be made available based on principles of maximizing benefit, minimizing harm and striving for equity, justice and fairness,” she said.
Receiving the vaccine in Phase 1 will be high-risk health care workers and nursing facility residents, she said. She said others will be added to the list as they are putting it together.
Phase 2 will be those non-high risk, who are 65 years of age or older. Phase 3 is non-high risk, under 65 years of age, she said.
They have developed a timeline for vaccine distribution, she said, and it depends on receiving the materials from companies.
They will work to ensure as many Phase 1 groups are vaccinated by the end of the month, she said.
For Phase 2 and 3, vaccines will be administered on a rolling basis between winter and late spring, she said.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment is working with health care providers across the state on distributing vaccines, she said. More than 200 providers have signed up to help distribute the vaccines, she said. They must meet licensing requirements, agree to CDC conditions and provide data requirements.
The vaccines will be delivered to pre-approved locations equipped for ultra-cold storage throughout Kansas. The ultra-cold storage is only required for the Pfizer vaccine.
The state is not disclosing the locations of the facilities, she said. Health care workers will receive the vaccines initially.
“With this schedule, we plan to protect the greatest number of Kansans, foster economic recovery and get kids as quickly back to school as possible,” Gov. Kelly said.
The vaccines will be free, but providers are allowed to charge an administrative fee for giving a shot, she said. No one will be turned away if they can’t pay, she said.
They are still in the early stages of vaccine production and distribution, and information is evolving and will be updated regularly, according to the governor.
Today, the vaccines in trials have been tested on tens of thousands of people and have passed safety data in the first and second phase, she said. An advisory board will review the final COVID-19 vaccine data.
Development of a vaccine started long before the pandemic, she said. It had its roots in vaccines being developed for coronaviruses, like the first SARS, she said. The earlier research is what allowed companies to move so fast to develop the COVID-19 vaccine.
Gov. Kelly encouraged residents not to take off their masks, but to continue to wear face coverings, test and listen to medical advice.
“We have seen what could happen when these common-sense mitigation efforts are not appropriately followed,” she said.
This week, all elementary school students in Wichita are having to return to remote learning, she said. If the state will commit to following the public health guidelines, they can keep this from happening statewide, and can ensure that schoolchildren can return to classes, she added.
Dr. Lee Norman, Kansas secretary of health, said Pfizer has estimated that about 30 percent of the people will not receive the vaccine initially, and will wait to see how it goes in the first rounds. Some are vaccine hesitant, he said.
The state has short-term funding for its programs and can get through December, Gov. Kelly said. But the federal CARES Act program ends on Dec. 30.
“It is imperative that folks back in Washington and Congress get it together and pass another stimulus package and ensure that states can staff up and gets folks vaccinated, as need be, among a variety of other things they need to ensure states have,” she said.
They do not yet know the full effect of Thanksgiving gatherings on the COVID-19 rates, Gov. Kelly said. She said while she hopes Kansans took the necessary precautions to celebrate safely, health officials are preparing for a surge in cases in the next 10 to 14 days.
Some hospitals in southwest Kansas have no staffed intensive care unit beds, she said. Smaller rural hospitals struggle to locate staffed beds at larger hospitals, she said.
Health care workers and staff are stretched thin, and more must quarantine because of exposure to COVID-19, or have contracted the virus themselves, she said.
“We all must remain vigilant. We must all continue wearing face coverings, physically distancing, avoiding large gatherings and practicing proper hygiene,” she said.
She said the Kansas Leadership Center will coordinate 750 meetings to educate and engage communities and promote local activities to stop the spread of the virus, she said. Also, a campaign launched last week to stop the spread of the virus (at www.stopthespread.org).
Local officials working on their vaccine plans
Local officials are currently discussing how they will receive the vaccine. At the Board of Public Utilities Zoom meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, General Manager Bill Johnson reported that he is starting to have conversations with the Unified Government about the release of COVID-19 vaccine and how it will roll out.
The UG is trying to determine where and how the vaccine will be distributed as more becomes available, he said. The CDC released guidelines on Tuesday stating that health care providers and nursing homes were the first in line. First responders could be in a later group.
Johnson said his plan was to stay in conversation with the UG and make sure the BPU position is within the group of first responders. They are trying to make sure that if the vaccine becomes available, the BPU will have access to it as well, he said.
The BPU currently has three employees who are COVID-19 positive and eight in quarantine, Johnson said. Last week there were three positives and 11 in quarantine, he added. Two of the three last week dropped off the list, while another two were added.
Johnson said the BPU is still receiving equipment that was obtained with CARES Act funding. He said he expected all the rest of equipment to come in this month.
COVID-19 case numbers rising
Kansas reported 4,615 new COVID-19 cases from Monday to Wednesday, for a cumulative total of 162,446, according to Gov. Kelly. There were an additional 119 deaths statewide, for a cumulative total of 1,679.
Wyandotte County reported an additional 159 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, for a cumulative 11,180, according to the Unified Government COVID-19 webpage. There were no additional deaths, for a cumulative total of 180.
The Mid-America Regional Council’s Kansas City Region COVID-19 Resource Hub reported a cumulative total of 92,617 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday in the nine-county area. There were a cumulative 1,119 deaths reported. The average daily new hospitalization rate was 173 in the nine-county area, an increase from Tuesday. There was an average of 765 COVID-19 patients who are hospitalized in the nine-county area, according to the resource hub.
The Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard reported a total of 13,921,374 COVID-19 cases in the United States on Wednesday.
According to Dr. Dana Hawkinson, director of medical prevention and control, five COVID-19 patients at the University of Kansas Health System died between Monday and Tuesday.
The total number of COVID-19 patients at KU Health System on Wednesday morning was 159, the same as on Tuesday morning, according to Dr. Hawkinson. There were 100 active COVID-19 patients, one less than Tuesday, and 48 patients in the ICU, a decrease from 53 on Tuesday. Of the ICU patients, 29 were on ventilators, up from 24 on Tuesday. Those on ventilators make up 60 percent of the ICU patients. Another 59 COVID-19 patients were in the hospital in the recovery phase, an increase of one since Tuesday.
HaysMed in Hays, Kansas, reported 32 COVID-19 inpatients, no change from Tuesday. There were 23 active COVID-19 patients and nine in the recovery phase.
Some KU Health System patients being moved to Indian Creek campus to create more space in KCK facility
Dr. David Wild, vice president of performance improvement at KU Health System, said besides rescheduling some surgeries, they are freeing space in the main hospital in Kansas City, Kansas, by moving some patients to rooms at the KU Health System’s Indian Creek Campus at I-435 and Nall in Johnson County.
Patients are evaluated carefully to make sure they can safely make the move, according to Dr. Wild. The patients with more complex needs are being treated at the main hospital in Kansas City, Kansas, he said.
About 70 percent of the patients at the hospital are from the Kansas City metropolitan area, while the other patients have transferred from other hospitals in the region, he said at the Wednesday morning news conference.
Some have had to be air-transported, and KU Health System has offered that for a long period of time, according to Dr. Wild. There are more patients being airlifted currently, and Dr. Wild said they do not load patients into any transport if the patient is too unstable.
Some patients have been too sick to be transferred recently, he said. There is currently a larger number of patients who need critical care than they normally see at this time, he added.
HaysMed in Hays, Kansas, has been closed to transfers more than it has been in the last 14 years, according to Dr. Heather Harris, medical director of HaysMed. In November, they had to deny more than 100 transfers from other hospitals, she said.
She said some rural residents thought they were protected from COVID-19 because of geography, but that wasn’t the case. A few counties that do not have mask mandates are making up almost 30 percent of their inpatients, she said. She advised everyone to wear masks, not gather in groups and protect themselves so they don’t get sick.
She said last week they had over 20 health care workers test positive, which potentially can affect their ability to care for more patients.
Some of the post-Thanksgiving COVID-19 case numbers showed a decline earlier this week, and Dr. Wild said he believes that was probably caused by fewer tests being given over the holiday. He said there will probably be an increase in COVID-19 cases in the next week or two from Thanksgiving gatherings.
Dr. Hawkinson said even if the decline in case numbers holds, the hospitals still have a lot of work in front of them to deal with COVID-19 cases, as hospitalizations often lag behind case numbers by about 12 days.
He also said that as health care workers are under additional strain, it can be tough to find joy. He advised them to find a little bit of joy every day, whatever that may be.
Let’s get through the next four to six weeks, see how things go, the ultimate supply of the vaccines and how safe and effective they are, he said.
“I think there is some light at the end of the tunnel, we just have to continue to be resilient and find that little bit of joy every day in life,” Dr. Hawkinson said.
Free COVID-19 testing available Thursday
Free COVID-19 testing will be available from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 3, at at Vibrant Health Argentine location, 1428 S. 32nd, Kansas City, Kansas.
The pop-up test is through Vibrant Health and the Wyandotte County Health Equity Task Force.
The Unified Government Health Department has moved its COVID-19 testing from the 6th and Ann location to the former Kmart at 78th and State Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas. The hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Tests are free for those who live or work in Wyandotte County. The tests are now saliva COVID-19 tests.
The tests now 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.
