Kansas Statewide & KC Metro COVID-19 Update – January 2022
Chief medical officers (CMO), infectious disease experts, and other medical leads from hospitals in the Kansas City metro area and across the state of Kansas gathered virtually on January 6 to provide a statewide update on COVID and discuss the impact of the recent surge of cases on our medical community. To begin the conversation, they each shared statistics from the hospital(s) they lead, including case numbers, infected patients in the ICU and on ventilators, deaths from the virus in the past month, and number of staff members out.
Impact of COVID Surge on Medical Facilities
- Drastically high numbers and rates of COVID cases, infected ICU patients, and staff out.
- An average of 2-10 percent of staff out at each hospital or hospital system.
- Large hospital systems like KU Medical, Children’s Mercy, and HCA Midwest have hundreds of staff members out due to COVID.
- Hospitals are dealing with their peak number of inpatient COVID cases and infected patients in the ICU.
- HCA Midwest: Over 250 cases, over 40 in the ICU, over 20 on ventilators
- Children’s Mercy: Around 30 cases, with a third of them in the ICU
- Liberty Hospital: Nearly 50 cases, with 9 in the ICU, 8 on ventilators
- North Kansas City Hospital: Over 90 cases, nearly 30 in the ICU, 15 on ventilators
- University Health: Nearly 100 cases, with 20 in the ICU, 9 on ventilators
- The majority of inpatient COVID cases, especially those in the ICU, are unvaccinated.
- 70% of inpatients at Advent Health are unvaccinated
- 81% of inpatients at HCA Midwest
- 79% of inpatients at Olathe Health
- 84% of inpatients at Kansas Health System – St. Francis campus
- 66% of inpatients at Liberty Hospital
- Out of the nine COVID patients in the ICU, only one is vaccinated
- An average of 2-10 percent of staff out at each hospital or hospital system.
- Hospitals have become so packed and overwhelmed that they began canceling and postponing elective operations and procedures.
- Most hospitals are operating at 100% capacity if not more
- Almost all emergency rooms are over 100% and have several hour wait times
- This data changes daily, and since the date of the video, the numbers have only increased.
Chief medical officer of University of Kansas Health System, Dr. Steven Stites, said, “We’re about 90% unvaccinated in our ICUs, it’s nearly 100% unvaccinated on our ventilator patients. It’s a continuing story of a vaccinated population and an unvaccinated population and the difference that we have.”
Several Questions from Reporters
Local reporters were given the chance to ask questions for the medical leaders to respond to.
- Where should the state be helping with the high rates and hospitalizations?
- How can a non-medical expert interpret and understand the hospitalization and case numbers?
- Are the provided rates and numbers including those who are strictly there for COVID or those who ended up testing positive while in the hospital for other ailments, too?
- How are emergency rooms going to handle and respond when seasonal issues begin manifesting?
While answering the reporters’ questions, the medical leads expressed how full their ERs and hospitals have become with this surge of COVID-19 cases, how their staff are beyond burnt out and struggling to deliver the standard of care they’d like to, and how they are running out of options and space to provide care to those that truly need it, COVID-19 related or not. They discussed that the situation could become so serious that they’d have to pick and choose which patients will receive treatment. During the call, Dr. Kim Megow, chief medical officer at HCA Midwest, stated, “How bad can it get? It can get bad enough that we may have to institute what’s referred to as crisis standards of care and for those of you listening who may not be familiar with that terminology, it is basically what the military does during wartime, which is deciding who gets care and who does not, who gets a chance at living and who is left to die and that is really dire.”
At the end of their discussion, the medical experts shared how to help relieve the burden on these hospitals. All of them agreed on the same tips to help with infection control and reduce the number of hospitalizations:
- Get the vaccine
- Wear a mask in public settings
- Stay away from large indoor events
- Stay home when sick
- Get the booster if eligible.
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