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.
-
Data collection for race and ethnicity vary among states, complicating efforts to distribute COVID-19 shots to all groups. In Missouri, health officials have questioned the data's usefulness. -
To avoid racial or ethnic disparities in vaccination rates, health officials are doing outreach. But demographic data quality varies between states. In Missouri, there are errors they can't quite fix.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Health communication experts say that misinformation spread through support groups can undermine trust in medicine and science. But some patients work to counter falsehoods with facts.
-
Rural Missouri counties are becoming coronavirus hot spots, with some slow to embrace safety protocols. Testing problems and funding delays only worsen the situation.
-
Missourians will vote Tuesday on whether to expand Medicaid to uninsured adults. The pandemic has raised the stakes for residents who have lost jobs and insurance coverage.
-
Health and hospital officials in two states report that a Trump administration change to how pandemic data is collected has left them unable to access vital information.
-
Experts say a bit of extra drinking isn't a problem for many people, but they recommend watching out for specific behaviors that signal addiction.
-
New treatment guidelines don't assuage concerns that some children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are being prescribed medication too soon, before behavioral interventions are tried.
