When the delta variant arrived this summer, COVID-19 hospitalizations in Kansas skyrocketed. In just a few short months, hospitals went from serving about 100 coronavirus inpatients a day to treating 800 at a time. But, a month ago, hospitalizations leveled off and finally started sliding slightly downward. The state remains in a bad place, just better off than where it seemed headed. “The fact that we still have so many ICUs full is very concerning,” said Marci Nielsen, chief advisor to Governor Laura Kelly on the state’s pandemic response. “Health care workers are exhausted and burned out.” They spend hours just finding beds for patients. Intensive care units are so taxed with patients in respiratory distress, that it delays medical treatment for others who need it badly, too. The University of Kansas Health System says about one in 10 of its respiratory therapists quit within the past month.
Source: KCUR News

As COVID-19 transmission in Johnson County continues to remain high, area hospitals and their staffs are still working around the clock to treat and discharge patients, roughly a year-and-a-half into the pandemic. The struggle to endure long shifts and multiple days working can be physically taxing and mentally draining, health officials say. “There are some weeks where I’m here at the hospital more than I’m at home,” Julie Rojas, a respiratory therapist with KU Health, said last week during one of the hospital’s daily COVID-19 briefings. “Your coworkers become like your family, and they understand the things you see and deal with.”
Source: KCUR News