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UK study estimates more than 134,000 cases of cancer went undiagnosed in the first 10 months of the pandemic
BY ELIZABETH CHAPIN UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY More than 134,000 cancer cases went undiagnosed in the U.S. during the first 10 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center study. The report, published in JAMA Oncology Feb. 22, provides the first estimates of missed cancer diagnoses in 2020 using
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Eastern Kentucky towns fight to recover from opioid epidemic, with help from newcomers and recovering addicts, national author reports
BY SAM QUINONES REPUBLISHED BY KHN FROM THE FREE PRESS In early 2020, Mandi Fugate Sheffel, 42, opened a tiny bookstore in her hometown of Hazard. Everyone thought she was crazy. Downtown Hazard was a forbidding place to start any business, much less a bookstore. Most coal mines that once supported the area had closed.
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Respiratory illness in Kentucky resurged in the week ended Feb. 10
BY MELISSA PATRICK KENTUCKY HEALTH NEWS After weeks of overall decline, three major respiratory illnesses increased in Kentucky during the week ended Feb. 10, with children between the ages of 5 and 17 getting hit hard by influenza. The Kentucky Department for Public Health’s weekly report says flu and COVID-19 activity is elevated and increasing
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Seasonal respiratory illness in Kentucky declined for three weeks
Numbers still considered elevated BY MELISSA PATRICK KENTUCKY HEALTH NEWS Emergency department visits and hospital admissions for respiratory disease in Kentucky have dropped for three weeks in a row, but the Kentucky Department for Public Health still considers the rate of respiratory virus activity to be elevated and the number of hospitalizations to be high.
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Federal government relaunches free, at-home COVID-19 tests, available Sept. 25
KENTUCKY HEALTH NEWS The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it is providing $600 million to make new at-home tests for COVID-19 and relaunch the program that allows Americans to order up to four free tests per household through the mail. The Department of Health and Human Services says in a news release that orders can
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Kentucky COVID hospitalizations more than double, exceed U.S. rate, but hospitals say they have been small and ‘manageable’
BY MELISSA PATRICK KENTUCKY HEALTH NEWS Kentucky has seen an uptick in COVID-19 cases, and local outbreaks, along with other illnesses, have shut down several school districts. This has also been reflected in hospital admissions, which is considered one of the most reliable indicators for tracking the virus since the end of the public-health emergency
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Schools in Lee, Magoffin close due to COVID-19, other illnesses
KENTUCKY HEALTH NEWS The predicted “summer surge” of COVID-19 has been relatively small but large enough in some Kentucky school districts to make them suspend classes. Magoffin County schools closed Thursday and Friday, and Lee County schools closed Tuesday through Friday due to illness, WKYT reports. Thursday and Friday were nontraditional instruction days. Magoffin County
