COVID-19 could overwhelm hospitals, KC doctors warn, as schools open, flu season nears
Leading doctors from Kansas City area hospitals painted a grim picture for business leaders Wednesday of the toll COVID-19 has already taken. And, they say, things could soon get worse.
Kansas City stubbornly remains in a “red zone,” reflecting a high rate of cases. Yet schools are opening and the busy flu season is at hand.
AdventHealth Shawnee Mission hospital alone has taken care of more COVID-19 patients over the last six weeks than at any other time during the pandemic. Other hospitals report similar situations.
“Our biggest concern, our staff’s biggest concern, our greatest source of anxiety, is that we will experience a surge which overwhelms our system and we’ll be unable to care for our patients,” said chief medical officer Larry Botts.
One doctor warned that if things don’t change, the case count could soon become “uncontrolled.”
The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce brought the medical experts together online for a COVID-19 discussion watched live by more than 700 viewers.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, Jackson County Executive Frank White and Ed Eilert, chairman of the Johnson County Commission, also listened to the briefing. Doctors emphasized their message was medical, not political.
“We have not been New York. But don’t think we’re not stressed at a hospital level by the impact of COVID right now and what that will do to us if we have a big rise as schools reopen, universities reopen, our people start relaxing too soon,” said Dr. Steven Stites, chief medical officer of University of Kansas Health System.
“This is a manageable disease, as we have proven by preventing hot spots — hospitals — from spreading disease internally.
“What we also know though, is that hospitals are very stressed by this. We’re all full, we’re heading into the flu season, we’re heading into the hardest part of the year, and yet we’re full and often COVID is a significant percentage of those patients.”
Doctors described a rising suicide rate among local veterans as COVID-19 exacts a growing mental toll. They told of 20-somethings and 30-somethings dying of the virus, how the effects of the disease can linger long after the symptoms are gone.
They said residents must take responsibility for their behavior if they want schools to stay open, and businesses to stay afloat in a sunken economy.
Stites said he and his colleagues know people are weary of following safety precautions. They’ve coined a term: COWS, or COVID Weariness Syndrome.
“We got a lot of COWS,” said Stites. “These people are tired of having to wear a mask. They’re tired of not being able to get together in groups. They’re tired of not being able to go to football games.
“I want to go to the Chiefs home opener. I have tickets. Not going this year. Why? Because of coronavirus, and … trying to make sure that we all stay safe.”
Back to school concerns
Getting students back in school is not only important for kids and their parents, but for businesses, too, said Joe Reardon, the chamber’s president and chief executive officer.
“Our members are grappling with requests from their employees asking for reduced time, flex time or part-time, in order to help their children navigate virtual schooling,” Reardon said. “It’s a difficult time for all of us involved.
“Schools, and child care for that matter, are really the grease that fuels the wheels of business, and our businesses are struggling. Our economy has been hit hard by the pandemic.”
Small and minority-owned businesses have especially been hit hard, Reardon said.
“I would say, if you’re pro-business, pro-small business, if you want our schools and businesses opening and thriving, if you want our economy to continue to recover, then we all need to take personal responsibility. It really is on all of us,” said Reardon.
“The best thing we can do right now to support businesses in Kansas City is to socially distance, wash our hands frequently, and please let’s all of us wear masks when we’re out in our community.”
Yet on Wednesday, the metro added nearly 400 new cases — for a total of 31,387 to date — and four more deaths. The two-week positive test rate was 9.71% in Kansas City, 13.92% in Jackson County and 11.4% in Johnson County. The highest rate was in in Wyandotte County, with 17.7%.
Dr. Mark Steele, chief medical officer of Truman Medical Center, emphasized the need for sick employees to stay home.
“Employees may be reluctant to stay home when ill if they will be without income, have to use PTO or have concerns about their job security,” said Steele.
“Truman changed its policy so employees don’t have to use their PTO for this purpose, up to a maximum number of hours, to help encourage them to stay home if they’re sick.”
Hospitals still busy
For people following the patient numbers — the KU system has been reporting every weekday for weeks now — “you may get the sense that things are relatively stable, that the census number, the number of patients in the hospital has been flat. … That’s true,” said Dr. David Wild, vice president of performance improvement for the KU Health System.
“That tells part of the story. The number of new patients every day that are coming to hospitals needing hospitalization is higher now than any other point in the pandemic.”
In August, “we’re on average seeing somewhere between eight and 11 new patients per day, compared to, even in April when we had our highest census, a maximum number of patients on any day showing up needing to be hospitalized, six new patients.”
The concern now, he said, is that case growth “is approaching exponential. And that’s a fancy way of saying, that as growth speeds up or becomes exponential, it becomes uncontrolled,” said Wild. “And that’s not something any of us wants.”
It’s especially something school leaders don’t want.
“If we want to keep our schools open, if we want to keep our businesses and our hospitals open and our economy thriving, we have to have a higher level of community responsibility,” said Kenny Southwick, executive director of Cooperating School Districts of Greater Kansas City, a nonprofit representing 30 Missouri districts.
“Schools will not be able to do it by themselves. We can keep people safe in our environment. Like the hospitals, we’re working hard to do that.
“But if the times that our people are out and about in the communities, if we don’t exercise what we have heard today, we won’t be able to keep our schools open and we’ll find ourselves in a situation that we were in last spring.”
This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 4:24 PM.
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