A nice drop in the number of COVID-19 patients at The University of Kansas Health System today. 27 people with the active virus are being treated, down from 33 yesterday. Of those patients, seven are in the ICU, down from 11 yesterday. Five of those ICU patients are on ventilators today, down from six yesterday. 33 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID-19 but are out of the acute infection phase, down from 37 yesterday. That’s a total of 60 patients, a big drop from 70 yesterday. In addition, HaysMed has a total of 16 COVID-19 inpatients, up from 15 yesterday, with 10 of those active patients and six in the recovery phase.
Doctors noted for the first time in quite a while, the health system is using only one intensive care unit for COVID-19 patients.
On today’s Morning Media Update, Melissa Robinson, president of the Black Health Care Coalition and a KCMO councilwoman, joined us to update initiatives to overcome vaccine hesitation among in African American communities. She discussed how the coalition has been working to overcome trust issues and the work that needs to continue.
Councilwoman Robinson explained the role of the Black Health Care Coalition, an organization which has been serving the Greater Kansas City area for more than three decades. The goal is to impact the health inequities within the African American community. The organization has launched a campaign called “The Science is Safe,” which hopes to build trust among a population that has deep distrust of the medical delivery system because of past institutional racism. Robinson says oftentimes, physicians consider African Americans non-compliant. But she and the coalition believe there’s no such thing as a non-compliant patient, there’s simply not a compatible treatment plan. The group has reached out to the local election board to see if, once enough vaccine is available, they can set up vaccine sites similar to election sites to make sure everyone has access. She discussed ways the group is looking to get better access to African Americans in prisons and how they are reaching out to childcare facilities to provide education to parents. She wants to enlist faith leaders, barbers, beauticians, and all of those with strong community networks to help spread the word about trusting that the vaccination is good for everyone.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at The University of Kansas Health System, is excited about today’s news that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine meets the requirements for emergency use authorization according to the FDA. A formal decision on that EUA could come within a week. Because there is just one shot for that vaccine, it has the potential to reach even more people. His advice for someone who’s had both shots and wants to invite fully vaccinated guests to dinner is to be cautious because it’s still possible for any of them to transmit the virus to others. He says with the current vaccines, there is some protection after ten days, but it mostly starts to ramp up after about 12 days. He also says not to worry if you’re one of the lucky ones who doesn’t have a reaction to the vaccine. You’re still protected.
Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health system, said the vaccines are preventing people from the long-term effects of COVID-19 such as heart and lung damage because they have much less severe disease. He reminds us that faith, hope and science work together and we’re starting to see the effects of science taking off. He says don’t lose sight of the fact that better days are coming.
Thursday, February 24 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Media Update. You've seen her several times signing for the Morning Media Update. Michelle DeMartino is the owner of Beyond Interpreting. She's also suffered tremendous loss in her family during this pandemic. Both her mother and father recently died of COVID-19 within days of one another. She joins to share her heartbreaking story. With her will be psychologist Greg Nawalanic to talk about overcoming grief and fear during this pandemic that will still be with us for some time to come.
ATTENTION: media procedure for calling in:
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