KU Health System has the highest number of COVID-19 patients

Kansas City, Missouri — A doctor at the University of Kansas Health System in Kansas City, Kansas, announced on Monday morning that the hospital had the highest number of active COVID-19 infections at any time during the pandemic.

Currently, 119 patients in the University of Kansas Health System are fighting acute COVID-19 infections. The previous high was 115 patients on December 10, 2020. On Monday, an additional 43 patients in the hospital were recovering from COVID-19, but were no longer classified as acute. Of the 119 patients with active infections, only 9 were fully vaccinated, according to doctors.

Two patients died of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total number of hospitals in 2022 to 13.

“In reality, the overwhelming majority of COVID-positive patients are here because they have COVID. If they didn’t have COVID, they wouldn’t have been in the hospital. It’s a false discovery. Not, “Dr. Stephen Stites, Chief Medical Officer, pointed out. “We need to get over the news network that has been created and stick to the real news. That’s what we do. We run with the truth.”

Stites and Dr. Dana Hawkinson, Medical Directors of Infection, Prevention and Management of the University of Kansas Health System, are good at wearing face masks, vaccination, avoiding congestion and washing hands repeatedly to prevent infection with the virus. The way.

Both doctors said that caution should not be neglected under the assumption that variants of Omicron are less severe than previous forms of the virus. Stites said it was too early to determine exactly how the variants would be compared.

“Maybe it’s milder, but it’s probably bigger, and there are people dying from it,” Stites pointed out. “Well, which do you want to be: Do you want to be the one who plays Russian roulette at gambling casinos throughout your life? Or do you just want to wear a shit mask? That’s our challenge. However, if you try to follow the rules of infection control, you are more likely to be safe. “

Over the weekend, the medical system changed the quarantine period for employees who tested positive. Now, instead of waiting for 10 days, they can return to work within 7 days of a positive test as long as the symptoms are gone. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently recommended a five-day quarantine period.

“We feel this is the safest and there was a lot of debate within the healthcare system. We want to deal with it and keep the rest of our employees as well as our patients as safe as possible. For patients at high risk, “Dr. Hawkinson explained.

Approximately 850 staff members of the University of Kansas Health System were closed on Sundays due to quarantine or quarantine protocols. Doctors said the hospital was a safe place and that their staff were infected with COVID-19 in the community and were not working.

To fill the gap due to absenteeism, the hospital has moved staff to a new role. Even the chief operating officer worked this weekend trying to repair the ice machine in other extraordinary missions.

“To tackle bedside care, we are shifting all clinically competent individuals to their direct patient care role in every possible way,” explains COO Chris Ruder. Did.

Some vaccinated volunteers and ex-employees who have retired can do the same, thanks to a state emergency order that exempts certain license requirements.

“People want to help in the best possible way, and that makes a difference,” Ruder said. “It will be much smoother to support people who are providing care at the bedside.”

Doctors and business leaders urged the community to take COVID-19 seriously.

Joliadon, President and CEO of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, said: “They don’t recover until they do two things. The first is to slow the spread and expect this peak, but the second is that in the long run, people are in the workforce, that’s day care. Is there, is it training? ”