Kansas doctors say COVID-19 surge remains challenge, as state has 8th highest rate of new cases

As the nation's top infectious disease specialist expressed optimism amid the omicron surge, Kansas doctors continue to warn of challenges hospitals face amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported 14,270 new COVID-19 cases, 71 new hospitalizations and 17 new deaths over the weekend.

An eighth child death was reported Monday. The youth was in the 10-17 age group.

Federal data released Monday show Kansas has the eighth-highest rate of new cases of any state in the country. Just over 2% of the entire state population was diagnosed with COVID-19 in the most recent week of reporting.

The statewide positive test rate is about 33%, with the 12-17 population experiencing the highest rate of any age group, at 42%.

"What we are seeing nationally, overall, is we think maybe the peak or the decrease in case rates or case numbers," said Dana Hawkinson, an infectious disease specialist at The University of Kansas Health System. "However, we know that there are communities, and in certain geographic regions, that are still having high amounts of cases.

"We certainly have seen this now in our health system, unfortunately."

The KU hospital in Kansas City, Kan., had 213 total COVID-19 patients as of Monday morning.

"The other tragedy of this as it continues, and has been a tragedy since the pandemic began, is we had nine inpatient deaths over the weekend and overall total of 40 deaths in January," Hawkinson said.

"That's 40 deaths too many, and it's 40 deaths we didn't need to have," said KU chief medical officer Steve Stites, calling January "a tough month" with the omicron variant.

Omicron 'should still be taken seriously' as peak wave unclear in Kansas

Omicron has tended to cause less severe disease than past strains, evidenced by a smaller percentage of patients needing a ventilator and shorter hospitalization times, Stites said. But the variant should still be taken seriously, he said, invoking the Kansas City Chiefs playoff win over the Buffalo Bills.

"Omicron is still bad," he said. "It's like, let's give 13 seconds to Patrick Mahomes and see what he could do to you. ... Don't let omicron be your Grim Reaper. Don't give it 13 seconds."

It is unclear when the peak of the omicron wave will come in Kansas.

Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said Sunday that he is "as confident as you can be" that most states will have reached a peak of omicron COVID-19 cases by mid-February. Some states that were hit earlier by the variant have started to see declines.

Fauci also said there may be "a bit more pain and suffering with hospitalizations" in parts of the country with lower vaccination rates.

More: Fauci says omicron infections could peak by mid-February: COVID-19 updates

Federal data for Kansas shows 72% of the population have had at least one dose, 59% are fully vaccinated and 38% of the fully vaccinated population have gotten a booster dose.

"Fauci has even said, hopefully, we're on the other side of the wave nationally," Stites said. "But that doesn't mean that regionally we are.

"And here's one of the challenges we face. We're so out of beds, we can't take all the transfers. And we know that as of the end of last week, wastewater testing was still going up in areas of rural Missouri, as opposed to starting to crest and plateau in our major urban areas.

"What that means is we should be taking a lot more patients from outside and rural areas of Kansas and Missouri than we can right now, because we're full."

Masks work, helps keeps schools open

The doctors remain adamant that masks work. Stites said masking allows schools to remain open, "which is the right thing for the mental health of kids" while keeping teachers and administrators safe.

"It is astonishing to me that, at this point of the pandemic, we're still having to have that fight," Stites said.

For those who challenge the efficacy of masks, "I think it's just a inability to critically evaluate the numbers," Hawkinson said.

He also questioned the sources of such claims, and "do they have the training to critically review studies, to critically analyze data and understand all the caveats associated with that."

Referencing Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who has challenged the efficacy of masks, Stites said, "He is subverting the science and the data and the information in these reports."

More: As Kansas schools struggle with COVID staff shortages, lawmaker points to limited remote 'flexibility'

'Studies show no benefit to using Ivermectin'

The doctors also pushed back on Kansas politicians who have promoted Ivermectin for off-label treatment of COVID-19. Hawkinson said reputable studies show no benefit to using Ivermectin, and there is a potential for harm from the drug.

Stites said doctors and nurses want to help people be healthy and don't have a hidden agenda.

"Beware of politicians ... looking for votes," he said.

Food insecurity and blood shortage

Meanwhile, the pandemic has affected the blood shortage and increased hunger.

The pandemic "has certainly increased the amount of people that are food insecure," said Steve Davis, of Harvesters, on Monday's KU hospital briefing. The regional food bank, which serves 16 Kansas counties, saw a 30% increase in food distributions in December compared to December 2019.

"We are in the midst of a shortage of blood that is unlike anything most of us have ever seen," said Matthew Coleman, the regional medical director for the American Red Cross.

The omicron wave has led to cancellations of blood drives, said Chelsea Smith, of Community Blood Center.

"Several of those have been school blood drives," she said, "which is even more impactful to our blood supply because it's usually at high schools where where students will donate blood for the first time. And unfortunately, we're going on two years now of a lot of blood drive cancellations that have happened on high school and college campuses.

"That is something that is probably going to impact our blood supply for years to come. We're missing generations of blood donors because of this pandemic."

More: Kansas governor signs COVID hospital staffing emergency bill, deploys National Guard for testing

Jason Tidd is a statehouse reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jtidd@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jason_Tidd.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas' new COVID case rate 8th-highest as omicron peak unclear