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Coping with COVID: KU Health, Stormont report fewer hospitalized COVID-19 patients at facilities

By Madison Parry

A daily report from The University of Kansas Health System and Stormont Vail Health show a slight decrease in the number of active COVID-19 patients being treated at each health system on Wednesday. Doctors at KU Health say infections are on the decline with lowered patient totals.

In a surprising turn considering being in the midst of a major holiday, Wednesday reports from The University of Kansas Health System and Stormont Vail Health show a decrease in the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients within the health system.

This is the second day in a row KU Health has reported a decrease. During a Wednesday morning media briefing by KU Health, health officials reported 73 people with the active virus are hospitalized, down from 76 yesterday.

At Stormont Vail, the health system reported 67 COVID-19 patients, down from 72 on Tuesday.

The number of ICU COVID-19 patients remained unchanged from yesterday’s total of 28 at KU Health, doctors reported at the media briefing. Twenty are on ventilators as of Wednesday, same as yesterday.

KU Health System has also seen more COVID-19 patients move out of the acute infection phase, that number at 66 on Wednesday morning, up from 55 yesterday.

Doctors with KU Health said the number of infections continues to drop, and that “…we’re better than we thought we would be for this time of year, especially after the Thanksgiving holiday.” However, doctors still urged caution with fast-approaching Christmas and New Year celebrations.

These reports from Stormont Vail and KU Health arrived less than a day after Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly announced that implementation of Kansas’ unified strategy has allowed for control over the spread of COVID-19 for the first time since May.

“There is no doubt that this change is also a result of additional counties opting into my administration’s face-covering protocol,” Kelly said. “I will repeat: If each of us takes personal responsibility follows the guidance of public health experts, we can continue to slow this breaking virus.”