KU Health System doctors express concern about jump in coronavirus hospitalizations
Doctors at the University of Kansas Health System expressed concerns Wednesday about a jump in COVID-19 patients being treated at the hospital in Kansas City, Kansas.
“It’s not good,” said Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control at The University of Kansas Health System, during a daily coronavirus media briefing.
“I think we had 22 (COVID-19 patients) two days ago, Monday, 25 yesterday. We have 30 in the hospital today,” Hawkinson said.
A couple are pediatric patients, he said. Of the total number of patients, 12 are in the Intensive Care Unit, up from eight on Tuesday. Two of those patients are on ventilators.
“It’s really concerning, knowing what’s going on in the community here and other places in the United States,” Hawkinson said.
In Wyandotte County, where the hospital is located, health officials reported that 3,148 have people test positive for the coronavirus as of Wednesday.
Meanwhile, neighboring Johnson County has reported at least 3,286 total cases Wednesday.
Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health System, stressed in the Wednesday briefing, that the coronavirus was not influenza.
“Don’t let anyone tell you that it’s influenza,” he said. “Influenza doesn’t affect this many people. It doesn’t put this many people into the hospital.”
Dr. Lee Norman, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said things are looking awful across the state. He said the state was winning the fight against the virus but on on May 26 everything started to change. That was when the phased-in plan for reopening the state was removed.
“We have fumbled the ball, people, and that’s the bottom line,” he said. “Mass gatherings occurring, soccer tournaments are occurring. So is sporting. We have three bars in one town associated with 94 cases and I’m sure that will triple.
“So, everything was within our grasp and we are fumbling it because of inattentiveness and politics and it’s just got to stop otherwise we’re just going to see this continued rise.”
In Kansas, 20,933 people have tested positive for the virus, according to data released by Kansas health officials. The positive test rate was 8.7%. As of Wednesday, 299 people have died from the disease.
In Missouri, health officials reported a total of 29,714 confirmed cases with 1,103 deaths attributed to COVID-19. The positive test rate was 5.5 percent.
