Personal Safety

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.

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Donald Kauerauf, the director of the Department of Health and Senior Services, speaks during a press conference at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City on July 21, 2021

Missouri Health Department Found Mask Mandates Work, But Didn’t Make Findings Public

Mask mandates saved lives and prevented COVID-19 infections in Missouri’s biggest cities during the worst part of the delta variant wave, an analysis by the state Department of Health and Senior Services shows.

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Melody Brannon, federal public defender in Kansas, said her clients who are detained at CoreCivic’s Leavenworth Detention Center are terrified.

For-profit Kansas Prison an Understaffed ‘Hell Hole’ of Violence, Death and Drugs

Attorneys and former guards describe CoreCivic’s pre-trial detention facility in Leavenworth as out of control,

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Boone County Circuit Judge Brouck Jacobs, center, listens to opening statements Tuesday as Solicitor General John Sauer argues for an order blocking mask rules in public schools.

Judge Rules Against AG Challenge to Masks in Missouri Schools. Columbia Case Continues

Face masks will stay on for students and teachers in districts requiring them, a Boone County judge ruled Tuesday, handing Attorney General Eric Schmitt a defeat in his efforts to use the courts to block mask mandates.

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Mark Kirchhoff, left, a volunteer with Columbia Project Homeless Connect, speaks July 29, 2021 with Taylor Knoth, a public health nurse, at the registration table for a COVID-19 vaccination clinic.

Once Upon a Time in Missouri: Republican Attorney General Backed Mandatory Vaccination

During a 1921 smallpox outbreak in Kansas City, the state health board required vaccine passports to board trains. The case is pertinent in today’s COVID-19 vaccine debate.

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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.

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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.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has had a mixed impact on mental health services on college campuses. Fewer students are reaching out for help, but those who do are seeing counselors more frequently.

Mental Health on Campus: University Counselors Seeing Fewer Clients, But More Often

College mental health counselors saw fewer clients, at least initially, during the COVID-19 pandemic. But clients sought help more frequently.

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Syringes of COVID-19 vaccinations are filled during MU Health Care’s mass vaccination clinic at the Walsworth Family Columns Club at Faurot Field in Columbia on Feb. 4, 2021.

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Goes Beyond Party Lines

While some pundits argue that party affiliation plays a role in low COVID-19 vaccination rates, experts say vaccine hesitancy goes beyond politics.

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A sign marks the entrance to the a drive-through COVID-19 vaccine clinic at the Shannon County Health Center on July 8, 2021.

Fight Over Mask Orders Growing at Rate to Rival Missouri Delta Variant Cases

Politicians are fighting over masks. Public health officials are begging people to get vaccinated. And meanwhile, the Delta variant continues to spread almost unchecked in Missouri.

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