Kansas lawmakers fast-track COVID emergency bill, press new KDHE secretary on conspiracy theories

Kansas lawmakers pressed the new state health secretary on COVID-19 conspiracy theories as legislators fast-track a bundle of emergency provisions designed to help hospitals and nursing homes weather dire staffing shortages.

House Bill 2477 codifies the emergency measures from Gov. Laura Kelly's executive orders into a temporary statute through May 15. Without legislative action, her emergency declaration would expire at the end of the week.

Rep. Fred Patton, R-Topeka, said the bill gives health care providers and adult care homes "flexibility to meet staffing demands without the need for a state of disaster emergency." He noted the backing of various health care organizations, who indicated the bill is a "much-needed safety net."

The bill's regulatory relief "would go a long way toward helping the proponents staff their facilities and provide necessary services for Kansans," Patton said.

"This is absolutely must-pass legislation," said Rep. John Carmichael, D-Wichita, who called it an example of bipartisan cooperation.

The bill was fast-tracked to final action, passing 106-5 after a short, tepid discussion.

More: Kansas lawmakers to debate COVID staffing emergency bill as one hospital leader checks morgue capacity

Meanwhile, new acting secretary Janet Stanek, of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, introduced herself to health committees of both legislative chambers on Tuesday.

One Republican senator urged the state's top public health official to sow "a seed of doubt" on the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines while another called for treating patients with unconventional and unproven medications.

A sizeable portion of the state population appears to already have doubts about the vaccines. Federal data show about 70% of the Kansas population has gotten a first dose, about 58% is fully vaccinated and about 37% of the fully vaccinated population has gotten a booster.

Hospital leader warns of rationed care

The KDHE didn't report new COVID-19 statistics on Monday because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Friday's report showed a seven-day average of nearly 7,900 new cases a day, as well as about 45 new hospitalizations and nine new deaths each day.

At The University of Kansas Health System, the number of COVID-19 patients jumped from 179 on Friday to 199 on Tuesday. That patient number at the hospital in Kansas City, Kan., has more than doubled from a month ago and is more than five times higher than two months ago.

More: COVID rages as Kansas lawmakers return to Topeka. 'We need the help of our political leaders.'

"The governor's declaration has helped in some ways for sure," said Steve Stites, the chief medical officer at KU's hospital in Kansas City, Kan. "We're able to use medical students and bring back retirees, and you don't always have to have a licensed person doing swabs. So that's a good step."

Brian Holmes, the medical director of the ER and lab at Memorial Health Systems in Abilene, said his hospital has yet to see much of a boost from the emergency declaration, noting a smaller population and fewer resources in rural Kansas.

"We offer $6,000 bonus for CNAs, $15,000 bonus for nurses, and we're not getting applicants," Holmes said. "Those numbers are just kind of crazy. We're in a mess. I think we're close to crisis standards of care."

More: Could COVID force rural Kansas hospitals to ration care? Doctor warns of what patient surge could mean.

The KU hospital hasn't moved to a crisis standard of care — as University of Nebraska hospitals have. Stites said vaccination and masking would dramatically reduce the risk of health care rationing in Kansas.

He applauded those who have implemented mask mandates.

"People talk about freedom. The reality is, when you're in the midst of a pandemic with a highly transmissible variant, if you're going to keep schools open, if you're going to keep businesses open, you've got a choice," Stites said.

"If you choose not to mask and people are indoors, you're not going to be able to stay open."

Dana Hawkinson, an infectious disease specialist, said peer-reviewed studies have proven mitigation measures are effective. However, not everyone accepts that.

"We hear these things on the news every day from prominent people, their opinion that some of these mitigation strategies don't work," Hawkinson said.

Stites said the current challenging time should be addressed through truth.

"It's hard to have a real conversation ... about health care policy ... when people want to keep putting stuff that's just not true out there," he said.

Doctors frustrated with unvaccinated patients

Hospital leaders across the state have said the majority of COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated. Rural areas of Kansas tend to have lower vaccination rates.

"Unfortunately, until a lot of these folks have a close relative or loved one that ends up suffering from COVID or dying, they just aren’t buying into it still," Holmes said.

"Sometimes, there's just no reasoning with them. A lot of them are bought into Ivermectin and some people are actively taking it. They all have their backup supply of Ivermectin. It's frustrating to talk to them about vaccines when they won't listen and their heels are entrenched."

Holmes admitted that he can be "extremely frustrated" when treating unvaccinated patients, "but in the end, we still have to treat them like we would anybody else." He added that some patients have good reasons to not get vaccinated, such as one who had Guillain-Barre syndrome after getting a flu shot.

"It's not a lack of compassion. It's a frustration that a lot of this could have been prevented," Hawkinson said, pointing to family tragedies of hospitalizations and deaths among younger adults who are otherwise healthy.

The vaccines were made to prevent hospitalization and death, not necessarily spread of the disease, Hawkinson said.

"They continue to do that very well," Hawkinson said.

More: Kansas schools close amid COVID surge and staffing crisis; educators hope for time to get healthy

Vaccines are safe and effective

Sen. Mike Thompson, R-Shawnee, questioned Stanek on advertising campaigns for COVID-19 vaccines, which has included television and social media ads, billboards and mailers.

"Why has there been no disclaimer on those ads?" Thompson asked. "I mean, part of your job is educating people about vaccinations. There's been no disclaimer about the dangers of vaccinations. And there are there's data to support that there are adverse reactions with these particular vaccines."

Stanek said such information is explained at the point of care prior to getting consent for vaccination.

"But there's no effort by your agency to at least put a seed of doubt in people's mind," Thompson said, claiming the ads didn't urge people to "talk to your physician and consider whether or not there might be some dangers involved."

Ashley Goss, the deputy KDHE secretary for public health, disputed the assertion.

"Some of the ads have said speak with your physician before getting the vaccine, or if you have questions go talk to your primary care provider about it," she said. "So if you're not sure, go talk to them, find out what the risks are."

One such video advertisement tweeted by the agency Tuesday morning encouraged viewers to "talk to your health care provider today."

Goss said the agency also provides information sheets, just as they do with other vaccines.

That sheet "very clearly states on it what your risk factors are, what the side effects have been that have been seen, if any, and this percentage so far that's seen with that vaccine, but that's how it is on all of our vaccine information sheets," she said.

Her answer didn't satisfy Thompson.

"What I'm getting at here is that the perception is the vaccines are safe and effective," Thompson said, adding that "I've done a lot of research on this."

"Most people believe these things are safe and effective," he said. "We know people are getting COVID. We know people are actually dying from these shots. There's nothing that indicates to me in these ads that you're doing your diligence to say, wait a minute, this vaccine does carry risk. You are encouraging people to get a vaccine and not educating them on the information. I think there should be a disclaimer on any additional advertising going forward."

Goss said those conversations should happen with primary care providers.

Sen. Mark Steffen, R-Hutchinson and an anesthesiologist, pointed out that many doses are not being administered by a doctor's office.

"That's duplicitous to say that it's OK for you all to say in public and to people that it's safe and effective," Steffen said. "I find that morally objectionable. I find that legally objectionable."

Hospitalizations and early treatment

Steffen urged the health agency to focus on early treatment.

"Those of us who study this virus and understand this virus understand how important and how nuanced early treatment is," Steffen said. "And yet, we don't hear anything from you guys about Ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine. All we hear is just the CDC mantra being blown through the speakers. What can you do to help people not suffer and die, from an early treatment standpoint?"

Stanek said she wasn't prepared to speak on early treatment. As for vaccines, "we have to rely on science and what's being shown, and the CDC is that source."

She said people with certain comorbid conditions should consult with their physician because of the potential for adverse reactions from the vaccines, just like with any pill or procedure.

"But overall, the data has proven that the vaccine, for the most part, is safe and effective," Stanek said.

Steffen challenged Stanek to provide him with such data.

Sen. Richard Hilderbrand, R-Baxter Springs and the committee chairman, pressed Goss on whether her comments on consent for vaccines and personal conversations with doctors means KDHE opposes mandates.

"We don't have a mandate for COVID vaccine, nor are we seeking one," Goss said, adding that "the governor doesn't support the vaccine mandate."

Early treatment is an important part of addressing the pandemic, but many drugs are in short supply amid the high demand induced by the omicron variant surge.

Merck and Pfizer have both developed drugs designed to treat COVID-19 that have been authorized by the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA has warned against using Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19.

Catherine Satterwhite, the regional health administrator for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said in a KU briefing last week that federal officials have built up stockpiles of medical supplies, including ventilators and other equipment needed to treat COVID-19 patients.

"Monoclonal antibodies, we know that those are in very short supply," Satterwhite said. "The federal government is deploying all the Sotrovimab that we have. So there's none that are held back. They are all going out in weekly allocations, but there still aren't enough for everybody."

Stites, the KU chief medical officer, said Sotrovimab is a new drug.

"It just takes a while to ramp up the production of new drugs," he said.

More: Trying to figure out if your symptoms are the cold, flu or COVID? Kansas doctors say get tested.

Misinformation on PCR tests

Steffen on Tuesday — and Thompson last week — spread misinformation on PCR tests.

Steffen claimed the CDC advised health care facilities to stop using a 2019 PCR test.

"Quit using it, you need to move away from it," Steffen claimed of the CDC advisory. "And then indicated that it really was not able to differentiate between the COVID and a whole lot of other viruses, which explained why we had no flu last year."

"That's not exactly what CDC said," responded Farah Ahmed, the KDHE state epidemiologist.

That particular test wasn't renewed because a new test was developed, which can test for both COVID and the flu. The 2019 test only looked for COVID.

"So now that we have a test that looks for both, they didn't feel the need to renew the authorization for that COVID-only test," Ahmed said. "That's what it was."

During a meeting last week, Thompson suggested that hospitals are "creating a bottleneck" by "relying on false information" from COVID tests.

"The FDA finally ended the emergency authorization use of the PCR test because they admitted that it could not differentiate between COVID and influenza," Thompson said.

A USA Today fact check determined such claims "badly mangles the facts." In reality, the CDC decided to withdraw its own PCR test "because the demand for it has decreased with the authorization of other diagnostic tests — not because it confuses viruses."

More: Fact check: CDC is withdrawing its PCR COVID-19 test, but not because it confuses viruses

Ahmed also fielded questions from legislators who were doubtful of the accuracy of KDHE's death statistics.

The health agency reported the state is averaging about nine COVID-19 deaths per day. Those statistics are calculated by counting death certificates that list COVID as the underlying cause or a contributing cause of death.

She said physicians are provided information from the National Center for Health Statistics on how to determine whether COVID played a role in the death, but ultimately it comes down to their professional opinion.

"We do not tell them how to fill out a death certificate and we do not amend that certificate," Ahmed said.

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: COVID hospital emergency provisions fast-tracked by Kansas lawmakers