Wichita hospitals see first drop in COVID-19 patients since July

Update: Sedgwick County sent out a release Wednesday saying their hospitalization data had been updated after a reporting error. The county initially reported on Monday that there were 178 COVID-19 patients in Wichita hospitals and 74 patients in the ICU.

The number of COVID-19 patients in Wichita hospitals dropped for the first time since early July, according to Sedgwick County’s weekly update.

Wesley and Ascension Via Christi reported that on Monday, they had a combined 196 patients, 79 of whom were in the ICU. That’s down from 206 patients and 78 in the ICU on Sept. 13.

Wichita’s hospitalization numbers had been steadily climbing since July 6, and there are still three times as many hospitalized COVID-19 patients and four times as many in the ICU as there were on Sept. 22, 2020.

Hospital officials say they’re wary of the impending flu season and what an influx of patients could do to their already overwhelmed hospital systems.

“Overall, our data shows that the hospitalized patients we are seeing now are more acutely ill than earlier this year, which requires more staff to care for the same number of patients,” Sam Antonios, chief clinical officer at Ascension Via Christi, told The Eagle earlier this month.

“Looking ahead, the prospect of COVID-19 potentially being combined with a more typical influenza and viral respiratory illness season is alarming.”

At his Thursday news briefing, Mayor Brandon Whipple spoke to the dire situation in local hospitals, which are all managing under contingency operations and have been on and off diversion.

“We’re seeing our hospitals just really at the brink,” Whipple said.

“When we talk about capacity, we are talking about staff. We’re not so much talking about setting up tents or setting up cots. We talk about staff, we talk about resources, and because this virus is just running through states that aren’t doing any sort of precautions at all, we can’t get the same type of traveling nurses that we used to be able to get.”

Whipple said ignoring the virus won’t make it go away, even as the pandemic drags into its 18th month.

“It’s real. I think some of us want to kind of push it out of our mind as if that was last year, we don’t want to think about it as much,” Whipple said.

Sedgwick County’s highest hospitalization numbers of the pandemic came between November and January with a peak of 273 COVID-19 patients on Nov. 30.

Whipple said he hasn’t yet had conversations with hospital officials about how they will ration care between COVID and non-COVID patients. But he acknowledged that no one is safe when hospitals are stretched beyond their limits.

“For those of us who are vaccinated, who are wearing a mask, doing everything right — we are the ones that also might end up in a situation where my kid falls out of a tree, breaks his arm, and I can’t get him to a doctor in time,” Whipple said.

Hospital officials say preserving public health takes community buy-in.

“Only by working together can we, as a community, ensure that our health care providers can continue to deliver the quality care our community needs and deserves,” said Lowell Ebersole, chief medical officer at Wesley Healthcare.

“We highly recommend that everyone in our community not only be vaccinated against COVID-19, but also wear a mask, practice social distancing and perform regular hand hygiene in an effort to help us control the spread of COVID-19 and other illnesses.”

Ascension and Wesley both report that at least 90% of their COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated.

This story was originally published September 20, 2021 at 3:03 PM.