Record number of COVID-19 patients reported Wednesday at KU Health System
The University of Kansas Health System reached a record high number of COVID-19 patients Wednesday with 44.
“COVID is not calm,” said chief medical officer Steve Stites. “We know that as our numbers continue to rise.”
Of the 44 patients, 15 were in the intensive care unit, with seven of those requiring ventilators.
The health system’s previous high was 40 patients, recorded on Oct. 29 and Nov. 3.
Stites said the health system is monitoring capacity levels and services like elective surgery. Near the beginning of the pandemic they were forced to suspend elective surgeries in order to ration PPE, but this time round Stites said they could suspend such surgeries to open more space for COVID patients.
“We still have some capacity, but I think everybody’s a little bit more on edge about it,” Stites said. “The other thing to remember is that when we had to deal with this before, it was really driven by PPE. We just didn’t have enough protective equipment ... The PPE is not the question this time around, at least right now. The real question is just bed capacity.”
Stites said other hospitals in the Kansas City area were also seeing an increase in patients.
Across Kansas, other hospitals have reached record breaking numbers of coronavirus patients this week.
On Wednesday, Stormont Vail Health in Topeka peaked at 45.
Hospitalizations hit highs in Wichita, too. Earlier this week, two hospitals had 111 virus patients, with 60 in the ICU. All 208 ICU were filled and “both hospitals are managing through contingency operations,” a Sedgwick County spokeswoman said.
Across Kansas, 567 patients were hospitalized for the virus, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. A total of 3,984 hospitalizations have been confirmed since the beginning of the pandemic.
The state reported 92,215 cases including 1,087 deaths on Wednesday.
This story was originally published November 4, 2020 at 1:40 PM.
