Wyandotte County’s positive COVID-19 cases topped 100 today, according to an evening update on the Unified Government’s COVID-19 page.
There were 101 positive COVID-19 patients in Wyandotte County, as of 4:25 p.m. April 1, with 34 patients hospitalized, according to the report. There have been four COVID-19 related deaths since mid-March in Wyandotte County.
The number of self-reporting responses also increased to 141, with 52 of them as probable cases, according to the UG’s website.
The total of positive cases in Wyandotte County was 75 on Tuesday morning, according to the UG COVID-19 page report.
Broken down by Zip Codes, there were 25 positive cases in 66109; 24 cases in 66104; 19 cases in 66112; 15 cases in 66102; and 5 cases in 66106. Other Zip Code areas of the county were not reported because they had fewer than 5 cases.
Earlier today, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported that statewide cases had increased to 482 cases, an increase of 54 cases from Tuesday morning.
Doctors: Stay home, social distancing works
At an 8 a.m. April 1 video news conference, University of Kansas Health System doctors emphasized the importance of social distancing.
Doctors warned that people who live in small communities should not think that COVID-19 will not go there.
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control at KU Health System, said he thinks the virus eventually will find its way to small towns and rural areas as well as urban areas.
“The virus doesn’t care how much money you make, what your job is, where you live. It gets around to these communities,” he said.
Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer at KU Health System, noted that the coronavirus (COVID-19) already jumped an ocean, and went to Seattle and New York. It has been found in Kansas City, Wichita, Lawrence and Topeka.
“It doesn’t care where you live,” he said. “It’s coming across the country, and to think it’s only a big city virus is only hopeful thinking, not true thinking. That hopeful thinking will get you into trouble.”
Dr. Hawkinson said they are now seeing nurses and health care workers in other areas without enough personal protective equipment. Currently at KU Health System, they have enough now.
“The biggest thing we can do is stay home,” he said, “so that our nurses, our respiratory therapists and our physicians don’t have to deal with the surge like in Indianapolis and Louisiana and New York have had to deal with. And if we do that, we will have plenty of protective equipment.”
Rachel Pepper, chief nursing officer for the KU Health System, said, “Our nurses are truly doing great. We have such a strong and resilient team.
“There are a lot of things right now that feel uncertain or are changing, but what I see nursing doing every day is truly what they do very best,” Pepper said. “Our nurses are focused on their patients, they want to be there to support every single patient and give them the most safe care that they can. They’re working as a team, and they’re constantly sharing thoughts and ideas and concerns that they have with all of our colleagues, so that we can become better together to take care of these patients, and truly improve the health of everyone.
“I think our nurses are feeling that outpouring of support from the community everyday, and they’re so incredibly grateful for that. They’re proud to take care of our patients.
“They would also ask the community to really embrace the power in every single person’s hands by staying home, and socially distancing and washing your hands,” she said. “We truly are all in this together.”
There were 36 COVID-19 inpatients at KU Health System on Wednesday morning, up from 25 previously. There were 11 of the COVID-19 patients on ventilators, according to the hospital, and 14 were in the intensive care unit.
“As we look at that rise,” Dr. Stites said, “that’s kind of a sign that we’re on the ascent, I wouldn’t say the rapid ascent yet.”
To see more information from the video news conference, visit https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital/videos/663919834401431/?notif_id=1585659832905564¬if_t=live_video_explicit
More information from the news conference is at https://www.facebook.com/GovLauraKelly/videos/890710201360932/.
The Kansas COVID-19 website is at
https://govstatus.egov.com/coronavirus.
The UG’s COVID-19 response website is at
https://alpha.wycokck.org/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Information.