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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Local leaders acknowledged that they were under pressure to loosen restrictions because of other jurisdictions' less restrictive orders.
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A handful of local hospitals has been running out of intensive care unit beds to treat additional patients.
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These Families Raised Millions To Fund Treatment For Their Kids' Genetic Disorders. It Hasn't HappenThe growing trend of family-funded research concerns some medical ethicists, who say that suggestions to parents that treatments may be imminent can raise thorny ethical issues.
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Even as hospital leaders warned that their beds were nearly full -- and Gov. Mike Parson assured the public that the state was prepared -- some hospitals continued to report data that made their capacity appear larger than it was.
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About three-quarters of Kansas and Missouri counties lack intensive care units, forcing critically ill rural patients to seek care in major cities.
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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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About three-quarters of Kansas and Missouri counties lack intensive care units, forcing critically ill rural patients to seek care in major cities.
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Coronavirus hospitalizations are now several times higher than during the initial spring wave.
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Nearly a quarter of intensive care units in the Kansas City metro are occupied by COVID-19 patients.