COVID-19

During the pandemic, a mass exodus of employees left the medical field. Hospital leaders say they're finally starting to fill open positions with permanent workers instead of contract employees, but higher COVID cases have sent many medical workers home sick.

Residents can book appointments to get updated COVID booster shots at local CVS and Walgreens pharmacies. However, the city's health department says it could be weeks before vaccines are delivered to its clinics.

The FDA recently approved a safe and effective new coronavirus vaccine booster to protect against the latest variants, and it should be available around the Kansas City area soon. Residents can also get the booster at the same time as the latest flu shot, which experts say you should do before Halloween.

An updated COVID-19 vaccine will be in Kansas City in the next few weeks. The shot combats newer variants more effectively and comes as case numbers creep up across the metro.

Americans are becoming less and less likely to believe our fellow citizens are trying to do the right thing, and that has added to the crisis facing rural health care. Plus: Are Midwest homes prepared for more scorching summer days?

Hundreds of thousands of people died in the pandemic because they didn’t trust the government or their neighbors to do the right thing. And it’s not getting better. Today distrust is making people sicker, especially where health care is fragile across giant swaths of rural America.

A growing number of people are testing positive for the coronavirus, but Missouri scientists say the virus still poses a smaller threat to residents than during the height of the pandemic.

The Missouri Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that Jackson County and St. Louis County should have been allowed to intervene in a lawsuit that struck down local health orders aimed at mitigating the spread of COVID-19.

COVID has been having a "summer surge." Dr. Marvia Jones, director of the Kansas City Health Department, says that the increase in new cases could be linked to a new variant and more travel.

Across the Kansas City metro, departments are making strategic efforts to rebuild from the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare for future health emergencies. But they are fighting uphill battles against lackluster funding, a mass exodus of employees and public perception.

After a Cole County judge invalidated the health powers of local governments in 2021, then-attorney general Eric Schmitt decided not to appeal the case. Local governments, who had used their authority to issue pandemic restrictions such as mask mandates, want the right to defend them in court.

Lowrider culture in Kansas City began as a strictly Mexican American thing, but founders of the scene say the subculture has grown more and more diverse. Plus: What the end of the coronavirus public emergency means for Missouri patients.