Health
Latest IN HEALTH NEWS
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Blood donors desperately needed during ‘trauma season’
The Community Blood Center has declared a blood emergency as supplies are short during the current high-demand season.
MORe HEALTH NEWS
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KDHE broadening eligibility for COVID-19 vaccinations, boosters for children
Kansas and federal public health officials Thursday expanded eligibility for the Pfizer booster shot to 36,000 children between ages 12-15, and moderately or severely immunocompromised children ages 5-11 can get an additional primary dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
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Douglas County implements emergency mask mandate, effective Friday; 727 new COVID cases reported since Monday
Douglas County officials have implemented an emergency mask mandate to curb the spread of COVID-19 as case numbers have reached record highs in the past week.
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‘Our most difficult point’: Unvaxxed COVID patients overflow hospitals as doctors beg for help
Jennifer Schrimsher, a physician at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, was up until 2 a.m. revising contingency plans. The hospital, like all others in Kansas, is coping with unprecedented numbers of COVID-19 patients and staff members out sick with the virus.
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Lawrence parents and teachers worry about risks, burden of omicron as return to school looms
Schools will be back in session Thursday despite record numbers of COVID-19 infections in Douglas County, leaving parents and teachers wondering how the district plans to keep people safe and buildings staffed.
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Moving average of COVID-19 cases in Douglas County hits new high
The 14-day moving average of new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Douglas County has reached a new high, Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health statistics showed Monday.
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City of Lawrence requiring masks in all facilities, suspending exercise and free play at rec centers
The City of Lawrence is once again putting in place more strict measures to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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KDHE reporting 10,000 Delta cases, two dozen Omicron cases of COVID-19 in Kansas
Testing in Kansas confirmed more than 10,000 cases of the Delta variant of COVID-19 and 25 cases of the Omicron mutation, and public health reports showed more than 1,000 hospitalizations and 250 fatalities linked to the virus so far this month.
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Delta, Omicron variants of COVID-19 slicing a wide swath into lives of Kansans
The extended COVID-19 pandemic is driving young health care workers away from the medical field and compelling experienced doctors and nurses to retire. Omicron is a reminder that it’s far from over.
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More than 200 new COVID-19 cases reported in Douglas County since Monday
Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health has received 210 reports of new COVID-19 cases since Monday, according to the department’s Wednesday update, bringing the total of known active cases to 908.
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Douglas County has confirmed case of omicron variant
Kansas’ second confirmed case of the omicron variant of COVID-19 is in Douglas County, according to Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health.
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Surging COVID-19 case numbers have some Kansas hospitals sapped of bed space, resources
Amid concerns COVID-19 will worsen as the temperature drops, Kansas hospital leaders are warning of rapidly rising case numbers leading to poor outcomes and limiting bed space.
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An eastern Kansas resident is the state’s first confirmed case of the omicron COVID-19 variant
A vaccinated person in Franklin County is the first confirmed Kansas case of the COVID-19 omicron variant.
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‘Our greatest challenge’: Latest COVID-19 surge threatens Kansas hospitals again as omicron looms
The chief medical officer for the KU Health System is monitoring a steep climb in COVID-19 hospitalizations, almost entirely from unvaccinated residents, while hospitals already are busy treating patients suffering from influenza and the respiratory syncytial virus.
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Former Kansas health secretary caught off-guard by firing, plans to keep fighting pandemic
As former KDHE secretary Lee Norman managed the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he found himself at the center of a cultural battle between individual rights and the collective good.
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Delta Dental board directors illegally seized power from Kansas dentists, court rules
Political appointees to the Delta Dental of Kansas board illegally extended their terms and stripped power from member dentists during a confidential meeting last December, a Sedgwick County District Court judge ruled Thursday.