COVID-19 UPDATE | December 24 Huddle Card

December 24, 2020

In today’s update, you will find important information, including:

  • Get the Latest COVID-19 Vaccine Updates
  • Additional Support for Scheduling A COVID-19 Vaccination
  • Update: Management of COVID-Positive Test Results

Regional Command Center Leaders Share the Latest COVID-19 Vaccine Updates

During yesterday’s live audiocast, leaders provided important updates and answers on the COVID-19 vaccine and more.

If you missed it, listen to the audio recording. You can also download a transcript of this audiocast. And, you can find answers to your questions about the vaccine here on the COVID-19 NW page.  

Additional Support for Scheduling A COVID-19 Vaccination

As of 1 p.m. on December 23, 1,678 KPNW health care personnel have received the COVID-19 vaccination. While this is exciting news, we are fielding questions about missed tickets and eligibility. To help get these questions addressed, we created an online scheduling ticket request form. If staff members are unable to locate a scheduling ticket, and their manager confirmed that they should have one, please go online to fill out this COVID19 Vaccination Appointing Ticket Request. These requests will be reviewed weekly. If approved, you will receive a time-sensitive scheduling ticket via kp.org. Please allow up to 10 days after submitting a ticket request to receive a ticket via kp.org—most will arrive sooner.

Reminder: If you didn’t receive a COVID-19 vaccine appointing ticket but were told you should have received one (or if you received a scheduling ticket email but the link in the email isn’t working), take the following steps:

  1. Log into kp.org to look for notification of an appointment you can schedule.
  2. If you have no notification or appointment ticket once logged into kp.org, try a different device or internet browser such as Chrome or Microsoft Edge. 
  3. If that doesn’t work, call appointment desk at 800-813-2000 to schedule
  4. If appointment desk doesn’t see the scheduling ticket, talk to your manager, who can follow up with a vaccine coordinator.
  5. (NEW) If your manager confirms you should have received a vaccine appointing ticket, go online to fill out and submit this COVID19 Vaccination Appointing Ticket Request.

If you are not registered for a kp.org account, sign up now at kp.org/getregistered.

V-Safe After-Vaccine Health Checker 

When it’s your turn to get vaccinated, you can use V-safe to report any side effects after getting the COVID-19 vaccine. V-safe is a smartphone-based, after-vaccination health checker that uses text messaging and web surveys from CDC to check in with vaccine recipients. V-safe also provides second vaccine dose reminders if needed, and telephone follow up to anyone who reports medically significant adverse events.

Update: Management of COVID-Positive Test Results

On Monday 12/21, Care Essentials implemented a new approach to the outreach and management of newly diagnosed Covid-19 patients*.

The new system is as follows:

  • An email will be sent to most patients newly diagnosed with COVID-19 who have kp.org access. This email will have the basic instructions and information needed by patients with diagnosis of COVID-19.  
  • This email will also provide the patient the option to schedule a 15-minute RN phone visit if they have additional questions or concerns regarding their COVID-19 diagnosis.
    • These phone visits may be scheduled to occur 7 days a week. 
  • If the patient simply needs a work note, then the email also gives the patient the option to schedule a 10-minute LPN call with our Care Essentials LPNs.
    • The Care Essentials clinician COVID-19 team lead for the day will be the authorizing provider for the activity RX work notes.
  • If during one of these RN or LPN phone visits, there are immediate concerns for further medical care or prescription treatment, the nurse may contact the Care Essentials clinician team for quick patient management and/or call back that day. 

For those patients not active on kp.org, the Care Essentials team will continue to outreach call.

What you need to know about our back-office workflow:

  • For patient incoming/returning calls to call center, the PCP back office team and RAN will continue to manage these in the back office for now.   
  • Clinician may sign off on Covid-positive results, as there is a process in place for follow-up and care management.  No need to send message to Back Office team to inform patient of positive result.
  • If you prefer, you can postpone the positive result for 48 hours and then review chart to confirm that patient has been contacted by CE team.
  • Testing site staff should inform the patient that they will get a kp.org letter with their results and options for next steps.

* Staff working at Care Essentials (CE) are doing the outreach and management of KPNW’s newly diagnosed COVID-19 positive patients.

KPNW Length of Quarantine Options

KPNW is following the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) and Oregon Health Authority’s (OHA) guidance for length of quarantine. Although the 14-day option has the lowest post quarantine transmission risk, guidance for 10 days (with no test) and 7 days (with a negative test at 5+ days) have been provided by the CDC and OHA. Our testing recommendations currently include testing asymptomatic contacts of cases at day 5. The goal of the reduced length is to get more people to comply with quarantine recommendations and allow back to work sooner when possible.

Recently, the Tri-County (Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington counties) public health authorities updated their quarantine recommendations and are not recommending the 7-day option. This varies with the CDC’s and Oregon Health Authority’s recommendations that KPNW is following. KPNW’s guidance will not change at this time and we will continue follow the 14, 10, and 7-day option guidance.

This information was covered in the December 4 COVID-19 Huddle Card Update and the December 15 RCC audiocast. You can also review the COVID-19 Testing Locations and Guidelines document or the CDC When to Quarantine site for more information.

KPNW Health Care Personnel (HCP) quarantine and return to work guidelines have not changed.

KPNW COVID-19 Trends

This week’s COVID-19 trends from KPNW researchers, scientists, and physicians, presented on Wednesday, December 23:

  • Anticipated Surge Timing: We anticipate another increase around the December holidays, with gatherings, travel, and returning college students. We expect additional surges through late January (with higher hospitalization census possibly into mid-Feb. 2021). 
    • We were looking to the “Thanksgiving Effect” as a harbinger of what to expect from the holidays. Oregon hospitals did not experience a post-Thanksgiving surge.  We still cautiously approach the longer holiday period when college students from farther away are anticipated to return and larger, indoor social gatherings are more likely.
  • Internal hospital census for KPNW has declined for the last week, but the number does not account for patients in the KP@Home program. The hospital census for Oregon has increased, but trends vary by region.
  • Internal hospital census (ADC) weekly average was down 3% from last week to this week (49.1 to 47.7). ADC forecast for this week is 49 by Dec 29 (w. error). Forecast is an increasing trend but may be at a temporary plateau until after the holidays.
  • ICU use is up in December compared with November. As of December 23rd, ICU census count was 7 patients, 18% of hospital COVID+ census. November average was 9%.

KPNW COVID+ average weekly cases wasdown 17% from last week (164) to this week (137). Forecast for this week is 137 casesby Dec 29 (w. error).  

COVID-19 Childcare Grants Helps KPNW Employees

Even in the best of times, returning to work from maternity leave with a new baby and a toddler at home is daunting. But 2020 introduced next-level challenges for working parents such as Kelly Spencer, a nuclear medicine technologist at Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center. Kelly was among the nearly 55,000 employees who benefited from the childcare grants. Listen to Kelly share her story with help from her children, Scarlett and Everett.

If You Need Support, Remember These Resources

Listen to Coworkers Perform Holiday Safety Songs

Put a smile on your face! Watch this video (password: kpnw2020) to see the magic and creativity of your co-workers as they perform a few songs that have been rewritten for this very special holiday season. Visit insideKP to learn more.

Situation Update

This data is current as of December 22. For the most up-to-date KPNW Situation information visit the KPNW COVID-19 Quick Facts Dashboard.