For starters, the COVID-19 vaccine doses intended for Ness County in west-central Kansas landed somewhere else. “That was my first clue we had a problem,” said Carolyn Gabel, the county’s public health administrator. Then someone from Dodge City called. Those vials bound for Ness City? ...

Douglas County reported 6,787 cases of COVID-19 as of Tuesday, an increase of 74 cases since Monday. In Douglas County, 5,997 out of the 6,787 cases are inactive or beyond the infectious period, according to Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, meaning 790 cases are active. The county has ...

TOPEKA (AP) — Republican legislators and Kansas' GOP attorney general said Tuesday that privacy is key, as lawmakers prepared to decide whether to rewrite a law that allows people exposed to COVID-19 to refuse to disclose their close contacts to health officials. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly ...

TOPEKA — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday that Kansas continued to trail four surrounding states in its COVID-19 vaccination rate, while Republican politicians denounced plans by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly to place prison inmates ahead of the general ...

EL DORADO (AP) — A 13th Kansas inmate has died of COVID-19 as the virus continues to spread in the state's prisons, infecting thousands. The Kansas Department of Corrections said the latest inmate to die had been serving a 24-year sentence for attempted first-degree murder and second-degree ...

TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly said Monday that she’s “very comfortable” with how Kansas is distributing COVID-19 vaccines despite U.S. government data showing its inoculation rate is the lowest of any state. The Democratic governor argued that Kansas likely has a more efficient ...

Douglas County has received about 4,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines since the rollout began, but many health care workers who qualified for Phase 1A of the county's vaccination plan are still waiting for their shots, officials said Monday. As of 1 p.m. Monday, Douglas County had received 4,120 ...

Lawrence students will begin learning in the new year the same way they ended 2020 — through hybrid in-person learning. However, that decision was not based on updated guidance provided by the district’s recently installed gating criteria. The district's new method to decide how school ...

Topeka — As 2021 begins, health officials and elected leaders in Kansas are reflecting on the lessons learned so far about the coronavirus pandemic. The Democratic governor Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly said the pandemic showed Kansas that a “patchwork” response does not work. She closed ...

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas will rely on genetic tests to identify cases of a new and apparently more contagious coronavirus strain that was first seen in England, the director of the state Department of Health and Environment said this week. No cases of the new strain have been detected in ...

Douglas County schools returning from winter break will be able to begin with students at least partially in classrooms. Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health announced Thursday its guidance to schools would remain in the yellow tier for another week, which will cover the first days of class ...

Douglas County reported 6,482 cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday, an increase of 54 cases since Wednesday. In Douglas County, 5,662 out of the 6,482 cases are inactive or beyond the infectious period, according to Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, meaning 820 cases are active. The county ...

TOPEKA (AP) — Kansas ranks last among states in its reported COVID-19 vaccination rate, according to U.S. government data, and state officials attribute it to a lag in reporting by providers of the shots. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 12,164 people had ...

Two more Douglas County residents have died from COVID-19, according to the health department’s update on Wednesday. The two new deaths, which bring the total to 34, were two men older than 85 who had both been hospitalized at the time of death, health department spokesperson George ...

TOPEKA (AP) — Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly on Wednesday received the first of two COVID-19 vaccine shots while some top Republican officials passed, for now, because not all health care workers and nursing home residents have received theirs. Kelly designated herself and 10 other state ...

As Douglas County and its community partners were racing to make sure all of their coronavirus relief funds were spent by the end of the year, the federal government provided a deadline extension just days before it was set to expire. Both Gov. Laura Kelly’s office and the National ...

TOPEKA — Two northeastern Kansas counties are backing off mask mandates they imposed last month as coronavirus cases surged, and officials set up a clinic in an arena in the state's largest city to vaccinate thousands of health care workers. Against the advice of public health officials, ...

Staff members and residents at Pioneer Ridge Health & Rehab were given the option to receive a COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, according to the skilled nursing facility. Walgreens administered the Pfizer vaccine at Pioneer Ridge Health & Rehab, 4851 Harvard Road, to staff and residents ...

Unemployed Kansans will receive new and extended coronavirus pandemic relief payments until March after a $900 billion federal stimulus package was signed into law over the weekend. However, it’s unclear when the new payments will begin, and a Kansas Department of Labor spokesman did not ...

Story updated at 1:42 p.m. Tuesday WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday blocked Democrats' push to immediately bring President Donald Trump's demand for bigger $2,000 COVID-19 relief checks up for a vote, saying the chamber would “begin a process” to ...