Kansas City, Kan- The number of active COVID-19 patients being treated at The University of Kansas Health System is back up above 100 today. 101 people with the active virus are hospitalized, up from 93 yesterday. The record is 102 patients on November 30. 45 patients are in the ICU, down from 47 yesterday. 27 of those ICU patients are on ventilators today, down from 28 yesterday. 66 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID-19 but are out of the acute infection phase, up from 62 yesterday. That’s a total of 167 patients, a jump from 156 yesterday. In addition, HaysMed has a total of 32 COVID-19 inpatients, down from 33 yesterday, with 29 of those active patients and 3 in the recovery phase.
Doctors say they are excited and optimistic after reading the FDA’s briefing paper on the Pfizer vaccine. They feel it will be an historic game-changer but warn we can’t let our guard down on masking and social distancing, especially with the Christmas holiday approaching.
On the Morning Media Update today, David Wild, MD, vice president of performance improvement, joined Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of infection prevention and control and Tim Williamson, MD, vice president of quality and safety to update the COVID-19 numbers and answer community and media questions.

Dr. Wild began with graphics showing the 7-day average of patients is up across the country. He attributes the dip in cases around Thanksgiving to a drop in the number of tests given. He says we are not yet at our peak of patients from Thanksgiving gatherings. He also showed Kansas has the highest hospitalization rate in the Midwest, higher than Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas.