Kansas hospitals report slight dip in COVID patients after record month
Kansas hospitals are starting to see some relief after some healthcare officials reported their deadliest month of COVID-19.
Hospital administrators were optimistic that the winter spike would be followed by relief in the spring, similar to what happened last year. But officials said Wednesday there was still reason for caution.
The number of patients has dropped since peaking in January, but it remains historically high.
Dr. Richard Watson co-founded Motient, which rural Kansas hospitals use to transport patients in critical condition to bigger hospitals with more resources. Despite the recent drop, those rural patients are still waiting 10-plus hours to be transported compared with two hours or less during normal times, he said.
“While there is good trend all across the board, we don’t think this is letting up this week, next week, probably the week after” things will start to look better, he said.
Children and adults hospitalized in Kansas with confirmed or suspected COVID reached record highs in January as the highly contagious omicron variant spread across the country. The numbers started dropping in late January, according to Kansas Department of Health and Environment data.
In January, the patient load, combined with staffing shortages due to sickness, left people waiting for days to receive care in Kansas emergency rooms. Gov. Laura Kelly issued a new disaster declaration, which, in part, allowed medical students to assist at facilities under strain.
“Is it ideal? No. But it’s better than what’s currently going on where people are not getting treated,” Kelly said.
Kansas COVID trends
The global pandemic reached Kansas nearly two years ago.
The 2020/2021 winter saw a large spike in cases and deaths before both started to drop in February 2021. Cases and deaths again started to climb in the fall. January set a record with 211,126 reported cases statewide. The next closest was 72,000-plus in November 2020.
After dropping down to double digits during the spring and part of summer, monthly deaths jumped to 302 in August and stayed in the hundreds. It hit an 11-month high of 535 in January. It’s the fourth-worst month on record. The worst was 1,181 deaths in December 2020, which was followed by the second and third-worst months.
Officials at the University of Kansas Health System in Kansas City and North Kansas City Hospital reported January as the deadliest month for COVID patients at their hospitals. Sedgwick County saw a three-month high of 44 deaths in January, but that number is nowhere near the county’s record high, according to county data. August, September and October saw monthly deaths in the 60s and reaching 70. The highest number was 149 in December 2020, which was preceded by 137 and succeeded by 99.
Sedgwick County has had 142,475 cases and 1,225 deaths since the pandemic began, according to KDHE.
Kansas has had 752,974 cases, 18,754 hospitalizations and 7,820 deaths, according to KDHE.
KDHE reports on numbers, especially deaths, can lag behind when they actually occur. KDHE reports figures on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Since reports are not every day, monthly figures reported in this story could contain some numbers from the surrounding months.
This story was originally published February 9, 2022 at 5:02 PM.