9.4% of hospital ER visits in Sedgwick County are for COVID, 0% are flu, KDHE reports

Kansas reported 92 new coronavirus clusters in the last week, including 18 at schools.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment issued its weekly cluster report on Wednesday. In addition to the new outbreaks of COVID-19 at 18 schools, there were 23 at nursing homes, 12 at private events, 11 at hospitals and other health care facilities and 10 at businesses.

There are 409 active clusters in Kansas. They account for 11,379 cases, 339 hospitalizations and 290 deaths.

The KDHE’s Wednesday report showed 5,853 new cases in the state since Monday, along with 60 new deaths and 130 new hospitalizations. There were 36 more patients admitted to ICUs, and nine more placed on ventilators.

All of the patients who died were 55 or older. The new hospitalizations included multiple patients from every adult age group, as well as one patient in the 10-17 age group.

The state reported 1,135 new cases in Sedgwick County in the last two days, along with 25 new hospitalizations from county residents. There were three more patients admitted to ICUs. Wichita hospitals hit their intensive care unit capacities weeks ago, the local health department has reported. There was one new death.

Kansas has now had 128,594 total cases, 1,326 total deaths and 4,561 total hospitalizations. Sedgwick County has had 22,390 total cases and 598 total hospitalizations, according to the KDHE. The county health department has reported 141 deaths.

Flu numbers

The KDHE’s influenza surveillance report for this week showed there have been zero flu deaths reported so far this flu season. The flu season runs from Sept. 1 to May. 31.

The report also includes pneumonia statistics. There have been 63 deaths directly caused by pneumonia. An additional 518 deaths had pneumonia as a contributing cause.

The number of deaths associated with pneumonia and the flu is higher now than at the same point during the last two flu seasons. Both the flu and COVID-19 can cause pneumonia.

In its COVID-19 report on Wednesday, the KDHE introduced a comparison with the flu for weekly emergency department visits. Statewide, about 8.2% of hospital emergency department visits last week were for COVID-19. Slightly more than 0% of visits were for the flu.

In Sedgwick County, approximately 9.4% of emergency department visits last week were for COVID-19. The flu accounted for about 0%. The COVID-19 statistic had peaked in the middle of July at 2.8% before dropping to 1.2% in early September.

The data source is the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-Based Epidemics, or ESSENCE. It only includes emergency room visits, not direct admissions or transfers.

ECMO at Wesley

Doctors at Wesley Medical Center are using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, also known as ECMO, to treat critically ill COVID-19 patients. Wesley has the only ECMO program in Kansas outside of the Kansas City area.

When other treatments fail, the ECMO machine “might be a patient’s last hope for recovery,” the hospital said in a news release. It is an external form of life support that performs the essential functions of the heart and lungs by taking blood out of the body, adding oxygen and removing carbon dioxide before returning the blood into the patient.

“ECMO provides the heart and lung support necessary to keep a patient alive, giving us more time to treat the root cause of the condition until they can breathe on their own,” said Dr. Sanjay Khicha, a cardiothoracic surgeon and director of the hospital’s ECMO program. “ECMO also helps decrease their reliance on a ventilator, which can be especially important with COVID-19 patients.”

Black community launch COVID outreach campaign

As Black Kansans have died of COVID-19 at a disproportionately high rate, the Wichita/Sedgwick County African American Council of Elders and Black Alliance are using county funding to launch a #FACTSNOTFEAR outreach campaign targeting the local Black community.

“Our goal is to raise awareness in the African American community through an integrated communications campaign using social media, traditional media, and virtual events to educate everyone about reducing COVID-19 risk factors while providing personal preparedness and other information that will ultimately help save lives in Wichita and Sedgwick County,” said Elder Frances Jackson of the Council of Elders.

The campaign is intended to inform the community about health guidelines to protect families from contracting the coronavirus, as well as lifestyle changes that help mitigate the virus spread.

“In addition to reinforcing the absolute necessity for everyone to wear a mask and practice social distancing, the Council of Elders outreach initiative will also provide data to the community about diabetes and other preexisting conditions that can lead to serious outcomes if a person contracts COVID-19,” the group said Tuesday in a news release.

Vaccine survey

The Sedgwick County Health Department and the KU School of Medicine in Wichita are asking residents of south-central Kansas to complete a vaccine survey. The responses will help officials plan for distributing a COVID-19 vaccine. The 5-10 minute survey is available online at www.surveymonkey.com/r/SCKCOVID19.

Kansas COVID Workgroup for Kids

Kansas educators and medical professionals who developed the state’s reopening guide for schools are calling on citizens, leaders and policymakers to help students and teachers amid the pandemic. The letter released Tuesday by the Kansas COVID Workgroup for Kids was signed by various people from the Wichita area and other parts of Kansas.

“Education shapes the future of our children,” the letter said. “School traditions and in-person learning are in jeopardy as COVID-19 numbers increase in our community. We, as a collective group of physicians, psychologists, counselors, nurses, school administrators, school board of education members, school educators and staff, and local community members, urge the community to help slow the spread of COVID-19.”

Pandemic procedures at schools seem to be working with relatively low transmission rates in schools, the letter states. While data shows children are not affected by the virus at the same rate as adults, teachers and staff need to be healthy in order to keep schools operating, especially in-person.

“Children benefit from being in school – where they receive quality education, adult support and supervision, warm meals, physical exercise, and consistent risk mitigation from COVID,” the letter states. “Yes, schools are one of the few places where masking, social distancing, handwashing, disinfecting and contact tracing consistently occurs. Students are compliant during the school day hours with these on-site safety procedures, suggesting that schools are a safer environment than the outside community.”

The letter calls for people to prioritize on-site education of children by following health guidelines, including wearing a mask. It calls on policymakers to create enforceable public policy to reduce community spread.

“Adult behaviors within the community have been a contributing factor to the increase in community transmission indicating that this upward trend can be reversed with responsible action,” the letter states. “We know that risk mitigation works. We are asking you to take action within your own circle of influence to reduce the rapid rise of COVID-19 in Kansas. This action may very well preserve our ability to keep the schools open, thus affording our students a quality education and our teachers a safe work environment.”

Bishop of Lutheran synod recommends stopping in-person church

Bishop Susan Candea recommended that churches suspend all in-person worship and gatherings through the end of the year. The bishops letter, which was publicly announced on Thursday, went to the 171 congregations and worshiping communities in the Central States Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Religious institutions are exempted from the mass gathering limit in Sedgwick County’s health order.

“I ask that we, as faith communities, not see ourselves as ‘exempt’ from county health guidelines, especially guidelines that limit gatherings,” Candea said. “I am calling us to lead by example, showing how we can worship, proclaim the gospel, support one another, care for our neighbors, and be the church in ways that help this nation work together to bring about healing in the midst of this pandemic.”

Shorter travel quarantine list

The KDHE has cut its travel quarantine list to only cruise ship travel and out-of-state mass gatherings with 500 or more people that don’t follow health guidance. Airports do not count as mass gatherings.

The health department on Tuesday removed the states of North Dakota and South Dakota, as well as the countries of Belgium, Andorra and Czechia.

“The removal of states from our list isn’t cause for celebration,” said Dr. Lee Norman, KDHE Secretary, in a statement. “We base our list on new case rates by population size and unfortunately, Kansas’ numbers are increasing significantly. Practice social distancing, wear a mask, stay home if you’re sick, avoid large gatherings. Each one of us is responsible for our actions.”

Wesley supports governor’s mask order

Wesley Healthcare issued a statement of support for Gov. Laura Kelly’s new executive order mandating face masks.

“Unfortunately, we simply have not done enough to slow the spread at this point,” Wesley CEO Bill Voloch said. “Today, Wesley has 115 COVID-19 patients, but projections indicate that we could reach 200 or more by Christmas. We may be able to avoid that if we take appropriate action now.”

The statewide order goes into effect Nov. 25, though Sedgwick County is already under an order from local health officer Dr. Garold Minns.