COVID patients overwhelm Kansas City hospitals. Here’s how many aren’t vaccinated

Of the hundreds of people being treated for COVID-19 in local hospitals right now, nearly all are unvaccinated, Kansas City area hospitals report.

On Monday, 108 of 119 active COVID-19 cases — a pandemic high for The University of Kansas Health System — were unvaccinated, hospital officials reported. That’s nearly 91%.

Liberty Hospital also reported a record number of COVID patients Monday with 58, topping the previous high of 49. Two-thirds are unvaccinated, a hospital spokeswoman said.

None of the 27 COVID patients at Children’s Mercy on Monday were vaccinated, said a hospital spokeswoman.

Also on Monday, AdventHealth Shawnee Mission and University Health (formerly Truman Medical Center) reported that 77% of their COVID patients are unvaccinated. Only one of nine at AdventHealth South Overland Park is vaccinated.

At HCA Midwest Health hospitals, which include Overland Park Regional and Research medical centers, more than 80% of COVID patients are unvaccinated, a hospital spokeswoman said. And 89% of COVID patients in ICU are unvaccinated.

During a Monday briefing, KU’s chief medical officer, Dr. Steve Stites, expressed frustration that some people continue to underplay the severity of the pandemic and argue that vaccines don’t work.

“Really? Well 90% of our patients here are unvaccinated,” he said. “I mean, why do we keep having to have the same silly fight when the data is so overwhelmingly clear about the question?

“It’s like folks don’t want to believe that COVID is real and it’s some made-up conspiracy.”

For weeks now he’s been warning that the pandemic has become “a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”

A group of medical officers from Kansas City and out-state Kansas hospitals reported basically the same thing last week when they briefed the public on the crisis they’re facing — packed emergency rooms, lack of beds and staffing shortages that compromise the care they can deliver.

Last week, North Kansas City Hospital reported that 85% of its COVID patients were unvaccinated; it was 79% at Olathe Health.

The sickest patients, in the ICU and plugged into ventilators, “are by and large unvaccinated,” said HCA medical officer Dr. Kim Megow.

“People that have waved the flag of personal choice are extending this pandemic,” said Dr. Kevin Dishman, chief medical officer for Stormont Vail Health in Topeka. “We must do everything we can to protect ourselves and protect each other. That is how we will get through this pandemic.”

‘Vaccines work’

Everyone 5 and older is eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The vaccines might not prevent you from getting COVID — as breakthrough cases demonstrate — but are known to protect against severe disease that could put you in the hospital, or kill you.

That’s why so many vaccinated people who do get COVID can recuperate at home instead of in a hospital bed.

“Vaccines work. Vaccines still work. We get more information about that every day,” said Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control for the KU system.

“If you are eligible for your booster, your additional doses, get that. If you haven’t been vaccinated, please get vaccinated.

“We know vaccination reduces the risk of long COVID. We now know also that vaccination especially in those ages 12 to 18 reduces the risk of multisystem inflammatory disorder.

“People say that happens so infrequently. Again, I think that’s a myopic view. If that was your child you would want to protect them as much as possible.”

As of Monday, 59% of eligible Kansans had received one dose of vaccine, and 51.7% had completed a series, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment website.

In Missouri, 61.5% of eligible residents have had one dose, while 54.3% have completed the effort, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reports.

In both states, women have higher vaccination rates than men. In Missouri, 57.8% of women have completed a vaccination series compared to 50.5% of men.

“We’ve been saying this for a long time. We have to look beyond ourselves. We know that getting the virus is also the potential to transmit. And so the vast majority of our patients that are in are unvaccinated,” Chris Ruder, chief operating officer of the Kansas City division of the KU health system, said Monday.

“Omicron is increasing the numbers, it’s increasing the hospitalizations of those that are unvaccinated. So the second piece there is looking at the big picture and the number of hospital beds across our city that are not available for care for other patients. That obviously is a significant concern.”

Getting vaccinated and masking up, which health officials continue to stress after all these months, will “really quiet this virus down and that’s really what needs to happen,” said Ruder.

“I think it’s OK to remind friends, educate people who aren’t wearing a mask, aren’t vaccinated, help carry that message in our community and continue little by little to encourage those that might be holding out.

“We know that people make a transition. They understand the importance, maybe after a period of time.”