Number of younger COVID-19 patients growing

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    FAIRWAY, KS (KCTV) — KCTV5 News has been tracking numbers inside hospitals over the last several months, and as far as hospitalizations go, August looked a lot like July with the numbers of patients needing to be hospitalized increasing. But there is something else developing that doctors say is of concern.

Dr. David Wild with the University of Kansas Health System has been on the forefront of the pandemic and he says the hospital’s patient population is changing.

“We are seeing younger patients who have less comorbidities, and more of those patients are staying in the hospital two or three days,” said Dr. Wild. “And that means we are actually turning the patients over faster and faster.”

That’s important to note when you look at the dialing inpatient average by month.

So while July and August look the same when you consider the average daily balance, the volume of patients being treated and released is increasing and the length of their stay has dropped. That’s due to better treatments but alarmingly, it’s also because the average age of coronavirus patients has dropped.

Health experts warn about a harsh reality that some young people, with no co-morbidities, are getting very sick. They say it’s rare, but it happens.

One example is 20-year-old Cecilia Erker. She was sick for 48 days and was hospitalized for more than a month. Part of her lung was removed. She posted this on her Facebook page:

“I never thought it a million years I would get sick. I never had any underlying conditions, I never smoked, I was incredibly healthy and active. But, I went out, I hung out with friends, I never wore a mask unless I had to. And now I regret it all. We are still at risk. Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Please stay safe.”

Doctors also share the story of a college athlete who ended up with a heart condition as a result of his infection. He will have to have a defibrillator for his heart and will never play sports again.

There is one consistent statistic that is some good news, the level of hospitalizations at Children’s Mercy Hospital remains low.

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