Household contacts and social gatherings seem to be spreading COVID-19 the most in Kansas right now, according to Kansas Secretary of Health Lee Norman.
Speaking during a news conference on Tuesday morning at the University of Kansas Health System, Dr. Norman said that nursing homes, prisons and manufacturing plants were formerly the biggest spreaders, but that has changed.
Now it is community-wide and clusters are driving it, he said.
COVID-19 cases at KU hospital and in Wyandotte County continued to rise on Tuesday. On Monday, Wyandotte County issued new limitations reducing the size of gatherings to 10, and closing bars and restaurants at 10 p.m. Those restrictions will go into effect Friday, along with similar restrictions in Jackson County, Missouri.
Dr. Norman said more restrictions work better than less. They want people to understand the principles, and not skirt the rules, he said. “If they skirt the rules they’re really skirting the principles,” he said.
The principles the doctors are referring to are wearing a mask, socially distancing, washing hands, limiting gatherings and staying home when sick.
Dr. Norman said that while in some states, tent hospitals are being set up to accommodate extra cases, the problem is there isn’t anyone to staff them here. Other states have similar problems, and there aren’t a lot of people available to help.
There are a lot of beds in Kansas, but they may be in the wrong place and not critical care beds, he said.
He said the state is working on a plan to transfer patients when they need intensive care, and then return the patients back to the original hospital when they are over the most acute phase.
While there is a state reserve medical corps, it may not provide the right mix of people for what is needed, although it remains a possibility, Dr. Norman said.
He said that hospitals generally preferred to “surge on their own footprint” rather than add the military reserves and tent facilities.
As smaller and medium-size communities across the state see growth in COVID-19 cases, they need to help themselves, Dr. Norman said.
The smaller communities have been very slow to come aboard with anti-contagion measures, he said.
He said Ford County, the Dodge City area, passed a mask mandate on Monday night, the first one they had there. The county still was not doing mass gathering limitations, he said.
“Counties need to pick it up, honestly,” he said.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment will be bringing in a service to provide what they call “air traffic control” for small community hospitals that need to transfer patients. KU doctors said they are getting calls from small hospitals needing to transfer patients, who have had to spend several hours trying to find an open bed.
The hospital would make one phone call, give all the necessary information, and then go back to taking care of their other patients, with the new service, Dr. Norman said. It would match patient needs with facilities. The service also would arrange for ground or air transport, he said.
When they are recovering, patients would go back to the community hospital or to nursing facilities, he said.
As most COVID-19 spread is happening with family, household or social gatherings, Dr. Norman said he would recommend that people keep their Thanksgiving celebrations small.
“No more than four people getting together, staying socially distanced,” Dr. Norman said.
“If we screw up during Thanksgiving and there is a huge surge of cases, December is going to be bleak,” Dr. Norman said.
He recommended that people “virtually” carve the turkey with those they love.
Also discussed on Tuesday morning were new vaccines for COVID-19. The vaccines are being coordinated through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, which has developed a plan.
Phil Griffin, director of the KDHE Bureau of Disease and Prevention, said they have been working several months on the distribution plan.
They have identified ultra-cold, 70 below zero, storage locations to bring the Pfizer vaccine into the state, he said. Moderna also has a vaccine, and it does not require the ultra-cold storage.
The new vaccines will go first to health care workers who work directly with COVID-19 patients, particularly in hospitals, Griffin said.
As they receive more vaccines, they will go to high-risk areas such as nursing homes, he said.
The vaccines will require two doses, an initial shot then a booster shot some weeks later.
Griffin said they are working with all providers on the reminder call process, to get people to return for the booster shot.
To those who are hesitant to get the vaccine, Griffin said they are not going to give unsafe vaccines in this country. To have a vaccine and not use it is risking one’s own life, he said.
Dr. Norman said it is important for leaders to lead during this time and to be great listeners. Leaders need to talk through people’s hesitations and fears, have conversations and not talk down to others, he said.
KU Health System reported its highest number ever of COVID-19 patients on Tuesday morning, with 84 acute patients in the hospital, an increase of four from Monday, and 31 in the intensive care unit, no change from Monday, according to Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control. There were 12 patients on ventilators, an increase of one since Monday.
In addition, there were another 42 COVID-19 patients still hospitalized on Tuesday, but out of the acute infection phase, a decrease from 45 on Monday. In all there were 126 COVID-19 patients.
HaysMed in Hays, Kansas, reported 27 COVID-19 inpatients, and three of those were in the recovery phase, no change from Monday.
Wyandotte County reported an additional 120 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, for a cumulative total of 9,625, according to the Unified Government COVID-19 website. There was no change to the number of cumulative deaths, at 167.
The Mid-America Regional Council KC Region COVID-19 hub reported 72,685 cases on Tuesday, an increase of 1,301 cases since Monday for the nine-county region.
The seven-day average of new cases for the region is trending down, while deaths and hospitalizations are trending up, according to the website.
The seven-day average daily COVID-19 hospitalization number is 710, which is up 94 from last week. The seven-day average daily new COVID-19 hospitalizations was 183, trending up. The seven-day average number in the ICU was 170 in the nine-county region, up 24 from last week, according to the regional website.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States increased to 11,350,143 on Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University figures.
Free COVID-19 testing available on Wednesday
A free COVID-19 pop-up test will continue from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, at Faith Deliverance Family Worship Center, 3043 State Ave., 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.
For more information about the testing site at the former Kmart location, visit https://alpha.wycokck.org/files/assets/public/health/documents/covid/10092020_newtestingsitewyco.pdf.
The KU doctors’ news conference is at https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital/videos/417377582956621.
The new health order with a limit of 10 persons to a gathering, and a closing time of 10 p.m. for restaurants and bars, with other new restrictions, is at https://alpha.wycokck.org/files/assets/public/health/documents/covid/11162020localhealthorderexecuted.pdf.
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 CDC’s COVID-19 webpage is at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html.
