Shahla Farzan
-
At least 13.6 million Americans have caught the coronavirus this year — more people than the entire populations of Michigan and Iowa combined. But the situation likely will get much worse this winter, based on new research from Washington University.
-
Gun-related suicides among young adults in Missouri had been declining since at least 1999, according to a new analysis from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. But after the state eliminated its permit-to-purchase requirement in 2007, firearm suicide rates among adults ages 19 to 24 jumped by nearly 22%.
-
St. Louis Children’s Hospital is treating adult patients with the coronavirus. The hospital began admitting adult patients with COVID-19 to relieve doctors at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, which is nearing its capacity.
-
With thousands of new coronavirus cases being diagnosed each day and patients crowding into hospitals, some intensive care units in Missouri are nearly full. But health care workers say the worst is yet to come, and they warn more lives will be lost without a coordinated statewide response.
-
Unexplained eye infections among COVID-19 patients have led some doctors to wonder if the coronavirus is multiplying within the eye itself. A team of researchers at Washington University reports the cornea appears to be resistant to the virus but cautions that other eye tissues may be susceptible.
-
The St. Louis region continues to see a rising number of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. Doctors say they worry that winter and the holiday season will bring people indoors and spread the virus faster. But scientists say they are learning more about the virus and how people can stay safe. In this edition of Curious Louis, St. Louis Public Radio reporters Sarah Fentem and Shahla Farzan talked to experts about what’s in store for the first winter of the coronavirus pandemic.
-
Though the city of St. Louis has added hundreds of new beds this year, outreach organizations are worried about the possibility of viral spread within emergency homeless shelters. With the first day of winter less than seven weeks away, these groups are scrambling to rewrite existing shelter procedures in an effort to keep the virus at bay.
-
Missouri inmates and criminal justice advocates insist that moving prisoners during a pandemic is risky and likely led to an increasing number of coronavirus cases this summer. But corrections officials say they’ve implemented new policies, including testing, to safely transfer people between facilities.
-
Public records obtained by researchers at Virginia Tech show the city of Quincy changed its water treatment processes in the months leading up to the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak, which may have allowed Legionella bacteria to multiply throughout the water system.
-
As the COVID-19 death toll continues to climb, Washington University scientists are testing whether lab-engineered proteins known as monoclonal antibodies can be used to treat the illness.