Children's Mercy Hospital

Mayors, senators, hospitals, zoos — everyone’s getting into the mix, with cheesesteaks, barbecue, and Poor Richard’s Almanack at stake.

COVID-19, RSV and the flu cases are filling up emergency rooms in the metropolitan area. Many area hospitals are at capacity, with some even putting beds in the hallways. All of this is overwhelming nurses already stretched thin.

Influenza cases continue to rise even as RSV and COVID-19 case numbers are plateauing across the Kansas City area. Children's Mercy staffers are picking up extra shifts as they treat more patients than the hospital can handle.

Mo Hive KC has helped create nearly a dozen beehives in Kansas City community gardens and rooftops over the last two years. Now they've expanded their hives to Jefferson City in the hopes of educating the public about conservation and exposing youth to urban agriculture.

The FDA and CDC recently approved COVID-19 vaccines for children between the ages of six months to five years old. Vaccines are available through your pediatrician, some local pharmacies and hospitals.

Although many parents are excited about the prospect of a vaccine for children under the age of 5, not many kids in the older age group have gotten their own vaccine yet.

Children's Mercy Hospital says the supplier of a re-agent needed for its PCR testing did not send its shipment this week. As a result, the hospital will suspend COVID testing at emergency departments and urgent care facilities.

COVID-19 cases continue to rise across the metro, and hospital systems are showing strain as workers are out with the virus and inpatient cases increase.

Younger students in Johnson County will have to continue masking for at least another month. The board of commissioners, however, rejected a motion to extend that order to all students K-12.

Children's Mercy Hospital gave 600 children their shot of the COVID-19 vaccine as doses become more widespread across the Kansas City region.

Local health departments, hospitals and pharmacies are gearing up to start offering the vaccine to children ages 5 to 11 years old.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been recommended for children ages 5-11 years old by an FDA advisory board, and area hospitals are preparing to distribute it.