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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KU doctors urged the public to recognize the proven safety of COVID-19 vaccines. -
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. -
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. -
Hospital workers say that capacity is already reaching tipping points. -
Unlike other parts of the country, new case growth in Kansas and Missouri has been slowly climbing since the middle of the summer. -
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. -
A study of Facebook found that misinformation about COVID-19 had been viewed far more often than messages from official health organizations. -
Rural Missouri counties are becoming coronavirus hot spots, with some slow to embrace safety protocols. Testing problems and funding delays only worsen the situation.
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Missouri is the second state to expand the health care program via ballot measure during the pandemic. Nearly a quarter-million people could get health insurance thanks to the measure.
