COVID-19

With the end of pandemic-era housing programs, evictions are up, which is causing a growing public health crisis.

Despite a spike in deaths from COVID-19 and fewer births, recent research suggests rural counties saw population growth during the first year of the pandemic. Remote work opportunities could have contributed to more people moving to scenic rural destinations.

Most states where more than 20% of the population is rural don't have laws requiring some kind of paid sick or general paid time off. A federal COVID relief package temporarily required a minimum of two weeks paid sick leave, but people in rural areas have been left in the lurch since that policy expired at the end of 2020.

Customers are paying more at the grocery store for a number of items, but one item is seeing a bigger spike than anything else: Eggs. Plus: Kansans with long COVID struggle to find remedies in one of the only states without dedicated treatment centers.

Paxlovid, an antiviral treatment for people at high risk of severe disease who have mild to moderate cases of COVID-19, is effective against the latest COVID-19 variant. Experts recommend that people at high risk figure out how to access the drug and any effect it may have on their current medications before they contract COVID.

Abortion is expected to remain a friction point in the Kansas legislative session, even after last year's vote that protected it as a constitutional right. Plus: How Missouri's economy is taking a toll from tens of thousands of residents still experiencing the symptoms of long COVID.

Post-COVID care centers have been popping up across the country as millions of Americans struggle with the aftereffects of the virus. The centers are typically in larger cities and can have months-long wait times.

While unemployment is at a near historic low, many businesses are still struggling to find workers — as many otherwise eligible workers in Missouri are out with short or long-term complications of long COVID.

Former Attorney General Eric Schmitt sued the federal government last year claiming it was colluding with social media companies to suppress misinformation. The lawsuit has become a cause célèbre for some of the country’s most prolific anti-vaccine activists, and now Andrew Bailey is picking up the fight.

This week marked three years since the first announcement of a COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, China. After more than 31,000 deaths in Missouri and Kansas, local health officials are trying to keep people vigilant — but people are tired of pandemic measures.

Facing shortages of critical care beds, medication and frontline staff amid the onslaught of RSV, COVID-19 and the flu, hospitals serving Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska are collaborating to get children with acute conditions the treatment they need.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, two-thirds of volunteers in the U.S. cut down their volunteer hours or stopped altogether. Now, the University of Kansas Health System is encouraging people to re-engage in their philanthropic efforts.