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Kentucky has 82 syringe exchange programs in 63 counties
State drug-control official says ‘That’s not enough’ BY MELISSA PATRICK KENTUCKY HEALTH NEWS Kentucky still has more syringe service programs than any other state, but 57 counties still don’t have one, including 21 of the 54 that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers vulnerable to a rapid outbreak of HIV or hepatitis C…
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CDC risk map shows 93 percent of Kentucky counties with high or medium risk of COVID-19 infection
BY MELISSA PATRICK KENTUCKY HEALTH NEWS Kentuckians in general have about the same risk of catching COVID-19 as they did a week ago, with 93 percent of the state’s counties at a high or medium risk of transmission and The New York Times ranking Kentucky second among the states for new coronavirus cases in the…
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FDA OKs updated COVID-19 booster targeting latest Omicron subvariants; Beshear says it could be available in Kentucky next week
BY MELISSA PATRICK KENTUCKY HEALTH NEWS The new, updated COVID-19 booster shots that target the original strain of the coronavirus and major Omicron subvariants could be available to Kentuckians as early as next week, Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday. The Food and Drug Administration authorized the updated booster shots from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech on Aug.…
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Monkeypox cases in Kentucky remain low, but keep inching up slowly; vaccine is available for those at high risk of getting the disease
BY MELISSA PATRICK KENTUCKY HEALTH NEWS Even as new cases of monkeypox inch up in Kentucky, overall cases remain low. On Sunday, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had confirmed 19,962 cases nationwide, 33 had been confirmed in the state. That’s two more than had been reported by Thursday when the state put…
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CDC eases some COVID-19 guidelines, says 89 Kentucky counties are at high risk of COVID-19; state’s infection rate is highest in U.S.
BY MELISSA PATRICK KENTUCKY HEALTH NEWS As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention loosened some of its COVID-19 recommendations, even more Kentucky counties moved into the high-risk category for coronavirus transmission on the CDC’s weekly risk map. And The New York Times reports that Kentucky has the highest infection rate among the states. The…
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CDC says COVID-19 risk is growing in Kentucky
High in 22 counties, medium in 37 BY MELISSA PATRICKKY HEALTH NEWS This week’s federal COVID-19 risk map shows almost half of Kentucky’s counties at increased risk. The rankings are based on new coronavirus cases, hospital admissions and hospital capacity. Twenty-two Kentucky counties are orange on the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention risk…
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Baby formula supply expected to remain short through late July
BY MELISSA PATRICK KENTUCKY HEALTH NEWS The baby formula shortage continues to worsen in Kentucky, with the state’s out-of-stock rate increasing by 20 percentage points since May 8, according to the retail data firm Datasembly. Datasembly reports that in the week starting May 15, the latest data available, Kentucky’s out-of-stock rate for baby formula increased…
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Appalachian counties continue to dominate lowest level of CHR
Most moved at least 10 notches BY MELISSA PATRICKKENTUCKY HEALTH NEWS The annual County Health Rankings & Roadmaps report, showing how the health status of every county in the United States compares to that of every other county in the state, has been released. Many Kentucky counties showed little change, but 76 of the state’s…
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Kentucky ‘pretty safe’ from COVID
Beshear expects ‘room for at least some executive order’ for medical marijuana BY MELISSA PATRICKKENTUCKY HEALTH NEWS As the state heads into Kentucky Derby weekend, Gov. Andy Beshear said all the metrics to measure COVID-19 give Kentuckians little to be concerned about. “You’re pretty safe from where the virus is right now, if you’re fully…
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‘Trigger law’ would end legal abortion in Kentucky if Supreme Court overturns its 1973 Roe v. Wade
BY MELISSA PATRICKKENTUCKY HEALTH NEWS If a leaked draft of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that would overturn the court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision becomes final, legal abortion in Kentucky would end immediately because of a “trigger law” the state legislature passed to take effect if Roe is overturned. But for now, abortion services…
