Updated at 10:08 a.m. Wednesday Douglas County will begin administering its first doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine this week, according to the health department. The county received 900 doses of the newly FDA-approved vaccine from the Kansas Department of Health and ...

Story updated at 5:14 p.m. Tuesday: MISSION — Kansas could finish immunizing seniors, meatpacking employees and other essential workers and move on to the next phase of coronavirus vaccinations by next month, top officials say. Dr. Lee Norman, the head of the state health department, said ...

As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to decline, Douglas County announced Tuesday morning that it would update its public health order to lessen and even remove some restrictions. Starting Wednesday at 12:01 a.m., the mass gathering limit will expand to 50, and no restrictions will be ...

Douglas County reported 8,733 cases of COVID-19 as of Monday, an increase of 54 cases since information was last reported on Thursday. In Douglas County, 8,470 out of the 8,733 cases are inactive or beyond the infectious period, according to Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, meaning 263 ...

TOPEKA — The state of Kansas continues to see a drop in COVID-19 cases while vaccination efforts expand, health officials said Monday. More than 16% of the state's residents had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported. More ...

NEW YORK — Fully vaccinated Americans can gather with other vaccinated people indoors without wearing a mask or social distancing, according to long-awaited guidance from federal health officials. The recommendations also say that vaccinated people can come together in the same way — in a ...

NEW YORK — They're just your regular neighborhood pharmacists, but some now wear superhero capes. Local pharmacy owners are filling in the gaps as federal, state and county authorities across the country struggle to ramp up vaccinations vital to crushing the COVID-19 pandemic. In some small ...

When Melissa Johnson received her first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, she was surprised, she said. She was finally feeling some relief amid a global pandemic that has disrupted much of her work as a teacher at Lawrence High School and put her life at risk as an essential ...

Dr. Mario Castro’s work as a pulmonologist at the University of Kansas Medical Center means he understands more than most what happens when there is a lack of information about the impact of the coronavirus. “When I round on the wards with our COVID units, I would say half of my patients ...

TOPEKA — Slightly more than 15% of Kansas residents have received at least the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, with the state's white residents getting the shots at higher rates, according to health department data released Friday. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment reported ...

Data from four local health organizations showed that more than 21,700 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered in Douglas County as of Thursday. Altogether, data from the four distributors — LMH Health, Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, Heartland Community Health Center ...

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas plans to give thousands of meatpacking plant workers their first COVID-19 vaccines by the end of next week, Gov. Laura Kelly announced Thursday, as at least a few counties pushed back against state inoculation rules that carry the threat of having doses withheld for ...

Douglas County’s school virus guidance will remain at its lowest tier for the fourth straight week as key metrics for the spread of COVID-19 continue to fall. On Thursday, Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health announced that its guidance to schools would stay in the green tier, which ...

Updated at 5:14 p.m. Thursday Unified Command has announced a new COVID-19 help line that Douglas County residents can call for all questions related to the virus. The line can be reached at 785-864-9000 and will be available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to noon ...

Douglas County would not have enough staff to run its vaccination clinics without volunteers, and the county is seeking more of them as the clinics expand. It’s a volunteer opportunity that participants have found rewarding and emotional, according to Douglas County’s deputy director of ...

Story updated at 5:57 p.m. Wednesday: TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Conservative Republican lawmakers argued Wednesday that Kansas shouldn't be able to shut down businesses during an emergency like the coronavirus pandemic as the GOP-controlled Legislature considered how far to go in restricting a ...

Making someone’s day can be as easy as dropping a note in a neighbor’s mailbox or even just smiling and waving at someone on a walk, and Douglas County is encouraging residents to do that and more in its newest wellness campaign. The well-being branch of Douglas County’s pandemic ...

Two more Douglas County residents have died from COVID-19, according to the county health department, bringing the total number of COVID-19-related deaths in the county to 78. The two new deaths were a man and a woman who were both in the 85-plus age range, Lawrence-Douglas County Public ...

Updated at 7:25 p.m. Monday TOPEKA — Conservative Kansas legislators, still smarting over actions Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly took early in the coronavirus pandemic, pushed Monday to prevent the state from restricting religious gatherings or keeping abortion providers open during ...

A year into the pandemic, COVID-19 testing has become easier to get — just not necessarily cheaper. If you go to the right locations, though, you can get a test for free instead of shelling out $100 or more. For Kansas, sites that offer free testing are listed online, complete with ...