‘We’re going to have a real crisis’: KC hospital leaders back plan for COVID-19 rules
If the Kansas City metro fails to implement new restrictions to limit the spread of COVID-19 — and if individuals don’t step up to do their part — leaders of several area hospitals said Friday that they fear the worst.
“We have to do that or we’re going to have a real crisis on our hands,” Steve Stites, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health System, said at a group briefing for the media via Zoom.
If cases continue to rise and health care workers must quarantine, hospitals may not be able to handle the load, he said.
“What we’re seeing now is what we’ve always been afraid of,” Stites said.
Earlier in the day, public health directors from across the metro urged elected officials to limit group gatherings and close restaurants early, among other restrictions.
Officials this week said the metro had entered “uncontrolled spread.” Hospital leaders said the community needs to a better job following infection prevention guidelines, such as mask wearing and maintaining physical distance.
“We are frightened about what’s going to happen with Thanksgiving and Christmas unless something changes,” Stites said.
Health directors in Kansas City and Jackson, Clay and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas signed the call to action for local governments, which includes recommending:
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas told The Star he will likely issue new COVID-19 restrictions next week.
Two main concerns are driving the hospital leaders: hospital beds and staffing.
Several said staffing has been tough, especially when employees test positive because of community spread.
Many also said they are near or above records for the number of COVID-19 patients.
When staff get sick and overwhelmed, he said, patients aren’t taken care of as well.
“We don’t want to see that story,” Stites said, referencing death rates in New York City and Italy from the early days of the pandemic.
David Wild, vice president of performance improvement at the University of Kansas Health System, said the hospital has, at times, had more patients than there were available beds. Patients were held instead in recovery rooms or in emergency departments. While they’re getting by for now, he said that’s not sustainable.
Elizabeth Long, Olathe Medical Center’s acting chief medical officer, said their number of COVID-19 patients doubled over the last two weeks.
“We are bulging at the seams,” Long said.
James L. Stewart, the chief medical officer at North Kansas City Hospital, explained the 10 p.m. restriction on bars and restaurants: The later it gets, people tend to act less responsibly.
“There’s nothing magic about 10 o’clock,” Stewart said. “It’s the behaviors that change that make the difference.”
The metro’s seven-day average of cases is now at 1,023. A week ago, that number was 739, and two weeks ago it was 497.
Stites said health officials and medical leaders knew a surge would come as the weather grew colder, people moved gatherings indoors and people grew tired of wearing masks.
It would create a “danger zone,” he said. “That’s exactly where we are.”
This story was originally published November 13, 2020 at 4:25 PM.
