Missouri lawmaker with COVID-19 says KC doctors fear hospital supplies will run out
The first Missouri lawmaker to test positive for the new coronavirus urged Gov. Mike Parson on Sunday to “do all in his power” to send healthcare workers supplies and to expedite the availability of COVID-19 testing.
Rep. Joe Runions, a Democrat from Grandview, said his doctors at St. Joseph Medical Center in Kansas City were “deeply concerned” they could run out of essential supplies, including gear needed to keep themselves safe.
Runions’ physicians, he said, asked him to seek the governor’s assistance.
“Doctors don’t want to limit in-room care to COVID-19 patients, but if they run out of supplies, they won’t be able to come in at all to protect their own safety,” Runions, 79, wrote in a letter to Parson. “We must not allow this to happen.”
In isolation, Runions said each time a doctor or nurse checks on him, they have to put on protective equipment. But that gear was running low, he said. Staff use 20 sets of supplies on him each day, he guessed.
“I have witnessed first-hand how much of these supplies are being used up treating COVID-19, and I am just one patient,” he said. “The process of getting these supplies directly to hospitals must be greatly speeded up.”
Runions’ doctors also told him expanded testing was needed to identify and treat people with the new virus faster, he said.
“I have no doubt expanded testing will save lives,” Runions said.
Runions shared a photograph of himself on a respirator, which was taken Thursday morning after the “end of what was his worst night since contracting COVID-19.” He was no longer on the ventilator.
Still hospitalized Sunday, the state representative said he was feeling better but that recovery would be long.
Runions was hospitalized with what was thought to be pneumonia, House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Democrat from Springfield, told colleagues in an email last week.
“Joe got sick on Saturday, March 15, and his doctors estimate he likely contracted the virus sometime around Tuesday, March 10,” Quade wrote.. “Joe was last in the Capitol on Thursday, March 12 and wasn’t here for session last week.”
Runions was among at least 90 people in Missouri who have tested positive for the virus as of Saturday, an increase from 73 on Friday, according to the state health department. Three people have died in the state, one each in Boone, Jackson and St. Louis counties.
The Star’s Jason Hancock contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 22, 2020 at 5:39 PM.
