Public Health

Downtown Cape Girardeau on May 6, 2020.

Uncounted: Inaccurate Death Certificates Across the Country Hide the True Toll of COVID-19

Some counties, like Cape Girardeau, have seen a spike in deaths that aren’t attributed to COVID-19. Many of them, blamed on natural causes, are likely from the coronavirus.

Read More >
A Kansas City police officer administers a sobriety field test.

Special KCPD Unit Focuses on Saving Lives, One Drunk at a Time

Meet Kansas City police officer Douglas Davidson. He has the distinction of arresting more people for drunk or otherwise impaired driving than any other member of law enforcement in Missouri.

Read More >
A photo of a doctor, a parent and a child getting a vaccine against a backdrop of light yellow and pink. This illustrates local doctors' urgency to get folks vaccinated during the recent COVID surge.

10 Things KC Doctors Want You to Know About the Recent COVID Surge

On Dec. 17, physicians and hospital leaders united to share their message of urgency in light of the recent COVID surge. Here are 10 takeaways.

Read More >
School buses wait Tuesday outside Thomas Hart Benton Elementary School in Columbia to take students home from the first day of classes.

Confusion Around COVID Ruling Swirls as Two Missouri School Districts End Semester Early

As a growing number of Missouri school districts drop COVID mitigation measures under threat from Attorney General Eric Schmitt, at least two closed the doors on their fall semester early due to large numbers of staff and students out sick.

Read More >
The Juniper Gardens Training Farm in Kansas City, Kansas, helps refugee farmers navigate their first year of growing and selling produce at local farmers markets, a CSA program and a wholesaling operation that caters to restaurants. In the field is Gasalla Musekura, formerly of Congo. (Photo by Jeff Tuttle)

Thinking Outside the Big Box to Address Food Deserts

The solution to food deserts doesn’t appear to lie in wooing large retailers to fill voids so much as listening to the needs of the underserved and trying multiple approaches to get healthy foods in the hands of residents.

Read More >
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt speaks to a gathering of Missouri Highway Patrol officers in April 2021.

Missouri Attorney General Tells Schools, Health Departments to End COVID Orders

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt instructed school districts and local public health departments to immediately stop enforcing health orders a judge ruled unconstitutional last month, and warned Tuesday they may face legal action if they fail to do so.

Read More >
During October, curiousKC focuses on housing and homelessness. (Flatland)

curiousKC | Be Part of How We Report on Housing and Homelessness

During October, curiousKC is your platform to send all questions you have about housing and homelessness.

Read More >
Girl getting water at a sink.

Study: More than 80% of Missouri, 60% of Kansas Kids Have Lead in Their Blood

A massive national study published in JAMA Pediatrics this week found that the majority of children in Missouri and Kansas had lead in their blood.

Read More >
MU Health Care opened a mass COVID-19 vaccination site in the Walsworth Club at Memorial Stadium in Columbia, Missouri. on Jan. 25, 2020.

COVID Cases Among Children Rising as Missouri Delta Variant Wave Enters Fifth Month

One effect of the Delta variant wave is that children are a much larger share of recent COVID-19 cases, just as the school year begins.

Read More >
Heather King, a nurse and mother of a 9-year-old daughter, supported the Johnson County Commissions public health order requiring children from pre-K to sixth grade to wear masks indoor at school.

Two-thirds of Kansas’ 25 Largest Public School Districts Adopt Mask Mandates

Two-thirds of elected school boards responsible for the 25 largest public school districts in Kansas imposed some form of an indoor masking mandate in response to the spread of COVID-19.

Read More >

Local Storytelling. Fact-Based Reporting. Trustworthy Sources.

Help support the nonprofit media landscape in Kansas City and provide a platform for underrepresented voices across the region.