Alex Smith
Alex Smith began working in radio as an intern at the National Association of Farm Broadcasters. A few years and a couple of radio jobs later, he became the assistant producer of KCUR's magazine show, KC Currents. In January 2014 he became KCUR's health reporter.
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Data collection for race and ethnicity vary among states, complicating efforts to distribute COVID-19 shots to all groups. In Missouri, health officials have questioned the data's usefulness. -
To avoid racial or ethnic disparities in vaccination rates, health officials are doing outreach. But demographic data quality varies between states. In Missouri, there are errors they can't quite fix.
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KU doctors urged the public to recognize the proven safety of COVID-19 vaccines.
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In Kansas City, hospitals are treating local COVID-19 patients as well as patients transferred from rural counties in Missouri and Kansas, where there's no mandate or culture for wearing masks.
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With coronavirus infections at record rates in rural areas, the sickest patients are being sent to big cities for care, and those urban hospitals are getting alarmingly full.
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Coronavirus hospitalizations are now several times higher than during the initial spring wave.
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Hospital workers say that capacity is already reaching tipping points.
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Unlike other parts of the country, new case growth in Kansas and Missouri has been slowly climbing since the middle of the summer.
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Health communication experts say that misinformation spread through support groups can undermine trust in medicine and science. But some patients work to counter falsehoods with facts.
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A study of Facebook found that misinformation about COVID-19 had been viewed far more often than messages from official health organizations.
