The overall numbers of COVID-19 patients at The University of Kansas Health System continue to hold steady today. Ten people with the active virus are being treated, up from seven yesterday. Of those patients, two are in the ICU, the same as yesterday. One of those patients is on a ventilator, same as yesterday. 13 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID-19 but are out of the acute infection phase, down from 15 yesterday. That’s a total of 23 patients, up from 22 yesterday. HaysMed reports zero active COVID-19 patient today with two in the recovery phase compared to one active patient yesterday.
On today’s Morning Media Update, Dr. Marissa Love returned to talk allergies and COVID-19. You may have heard of research pointing to longer pollen seasons and you're not imagining it. Dr. Love discussed what that means and reminded us how to tell whether symptoms are allergies or COVID-19.
Dr. Love says if you think pollen season has gotten longer, you’re right. Studies of tree pollen in the last 30 years show pollen season has grown 20 days longer. She explains in the spring we have tree allergies, in the summer grass allergies, in late summer weed allergies and in late fall mold allergies. But she says it’s the springtime when people tend to buy the most over the counter allergy medicines. She describes pollen as typically a harmless substance, but if you’re allergic to it, your body and immune system see pollen as an intruder. That’s when it starts causing an allergic reaction, releasing chemicals that causes typical allergy symptoms, which in some could trigger a dangerous asthma reaction. The question she’s asked often lately is how to tell the difference between allergy symptoms and COVID-19 symptoms. Some, like congestion, runny nose and potentially loss of smell, overlap. In allergic symptoms or hay fever, you also typically get itchy eyes, itchy nose and sneezing. With COVID-19 it’s more common to have fever, severe fatigue, really bad headaches, especially in the back of the head and not the front, and diarrhea. She’s noticed that wearing masks outdoors for COVID-19 has helped many allergy patients this year. She advises allergy sufferers to seek medical help when over the counter medications are no longer working and tells patients not to stop taking their allergy medications before getting a COVID-19 shot.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at The University of Kansas Health System, says it’s “way too soon” to tell whether we’ll be able to have full occupancy at NFL stadiums this fall, as the league’s commissioner has suggested. He says with some states easing restrictions, the concerns are very real we may see another surge in cases, which we’re already seeing in many states, but not in Kansas. He advises people not to delay getting vaccinated because of things like a stomach bug or if you’re on antibiotics, and it’s OK as long as you’ve been fever-free for 24 hours. He hopes we can vaccinate our way out of the pandemic, which we’re getting closer to each day, but he reminds us that COVID-19 is still a “behavioral disease,” and it’s much too soon to let our guard down.
David Wild, MD, VP of at The University of Kansas Health System, is in for Dr. Stites. He says it’s great news that Pfizer is self-reporting 100 percent efficacy of its vaccine in studies of kids 12-15. But he cautions the full data is not available, and it’s not realistic to think it will be 100 percent in real life. He tells us there is growing concern about the virus variants in Kansas as it’s showing up more and more in wastewater testing. He commented on a report by a group called Parents Together, which found only 58 percent in their survey plan to vaccinate their kids when it’s available. He said that low number is not enough to achieve herd immunity, which is usually 70 to 75 percent. He also said there could be problems with getting your first shot in one place, like a college campus or a winter home, and trying to get the second dose when you come back to your regular home. But he says big chain pharmacies, which keep track of their patients nationwide, could be the answer.
Thursday, April 1 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Media Update. Marian Ramirez- Mantilia, Director of Juntos Center for Advancing Latino Health at KU Medical Center and Dr. Edward Ellerbeck, chair of Population Health join us to offer a big picture look at the RADx-UP program and how they are working to empower local community teams to advance testing and vaccination.
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