Enrollment for subsidized health insurance is open on Kynect

State Cabinet for Health and Family Services map, adapted by Kentucky Health News Enrollment is now open on Kynect, the state's revived health-insurance marketplace, for federally subsidized health insurance for 2022. The system that many call "Obamacare" has two more insurers than this year, and its first coverage...

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Even if you have a history of severe allergic reactions to vaccines, Pfizer and Covid shots are still a good idea, big study says

The Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus vaccines using messenger RNA are shown to be safe for people with a history of severe allergic reactions to vaccines, medications, or allergens, according to a study of more than 52,000 employees in the Mass General Brigham health-care system in Massachusetts. In the study, published in JAMA Network Open, 474 participants reported a history of such allergic reactions, and significantly more suffered...

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Pandemic's decline stalls in Ky.; more schools drop masks; shots for kids 5-11 are days away; vax numbers are being corrected

By Al CrossKentucky Health News The pandemic's decline in Kentucky stalled Friday. On the state's daily report, the last one until Monday, the seven-day infection rate rose for the second day in a row, to 24.01 cases per 100,000 residents. It had hit a recent low of 23.58 on Wednesday, after 12 days of decline. The state reported 1,623 new coronavirus cases, lowering its seven-day rolling average by only one daily case, to 1,307. However, the...

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'Take It From Me' campaign has 18 new video public-service announcements to promote coronavirus vaccination

The "Take It From Me" campaign of public service video announcements has released 18 more videos urging Kentuckians to get a coronavirus vaccine. The campaign is a partnership between the Kentucky Medical Association, its Kentucky Foundation for Medical Care, the Kentucky Hospital Association, the Kentucky Primary Care Association and the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. "The partners encourage community organizations, health providers, and others...

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New toolkit aims to help rural organizations create medication-assisted therapy programs for opioid misuse

A new toolkit from the Rural Health Information Hub aims to help rural communities and organizations develop, implement, evaluate and sustain Medication for Opioid Use Disorder programs. MOUD programs, sometimes called Medication-Assisted Therapy, are the gold-standard for treating OUD, but they're harder...

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Kentucky's decline from the peak of the pandemic has been steeper than the nation's; vaccination rate now 24th among states

Washington Post map, adapted by Kentucky Health News, shows rates in bordering and nearby states and Puerto Rico, the national leader. Kentucky Health News The decline of new coronavirus cases in Kentucky has been steeper than the national decline from the peak in early September. Wednesday's seven-day average of...

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Obesity is big risk factor for severe Covid-19, and that's important in Kentucky, which is No. 1 in obesity of children aged 10 to 17

Despite the recent decline in new coronavirus infections, appears to be on the decline, "The risk to children and adults is still significant," Hilary Brown reports for the University of Kentucky. "Of the number of risk factors associated with severe Covid-19, obesity appears to be one of the most prevalent." Since Kentucky ranks first in obesity of children 10 to 17, "This puts a significant percentage of Kentucky’s children and adolescents...

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Most pandemic metrics are favorable, except intensive-care cases

Washington Post chart, adapted by Ky. Health News; click to enlarge. By Al Cross Kentucky Health News Most measures of the pandemic in Kentucky declined Wednesday, and vaccinations are on an uptick after a slight decline. The state reported 1,702 new cases of the coronavirus, lowering the seven-day rolling average...

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Foundation gives $20,000 to spur vaccination in low-vax counties

State Department for Public Health vaccination-rate map, adapted by Kentucky Health News The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky has awarded grants totaling $20,000 to increase uptake of the Covid-19 vaccines in counties with the lowest vaccination rates. They are "intended for rapid deployment" for new or expanded...

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UK physician Peterson will be co-presenter in Nov. 9 webinar about the critical role of family physicians in rural America

Lars Peterson, M.D., Ph.D. A University of Kentucky physician and a University of Washington researcher will hold a webinar at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 9 to discuss the critical role of family physicians in rural America, how they're trained, their rural distribution, and differences in scope of practice in rural vs. urban...

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The pandemic map is mainly orange, but has plenty of red counties; kids could start getting Pfizer shots as early as Nov. 3

State Dept. for Public Health map, adapted by Ky. Health News; to enlarge any image, click on it. New York Times map shows how state compares. Interactive version here. By Al Cross Kentucky Health News Kentucky's coronavirus map is now mainly orange, indicating the continued decline in new cases in the last...

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Share of Kentuckians testing positive for the coronavirus drops below 6%, but Beshear says daily new cases are still too high

 Dept. for Public Health graph, adapted by Ky. Health News; first-month figures are unreliable due to few tests. By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News The metrics to measure the coronavirus in Kentucky continue to improve, most notably with the percentage of Kentuckians testing positive for the virus in the...

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Kentucky's 10- to 17-year-old youth rank No. 1 for obesity; high-school students rank fifth, 2-to-4-year-olds in WIC program sixth

Map from foundation report, adapted by Kentucky Health News to show rates in bordering states and the Southeast By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News In 2019-20, Kentucky had the highest obesity rate in the nation for children between the ages of 10 and 17, 23.8 percent; almost half again as frequent of the national rate...

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Cardiovascular endurance exercises are better than weightlifting and other resistance exercise for improving health, study finds

Endurance exercises such as running or biking may be more beneficial to human health than resistance exercises such as weightlifting, says a Swedish study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology. Researchers from the Karolinska University Hospital and Linköping University examined how endurance and resistance training affected the activity of mitochondria, known as the "powerhouse of the cell," in the participants’ bodies. Increased mitochondrial...

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Study: E-cigarettes don't help smokers stay off combustible cigs

truthinitiative.org photo By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Switching to electronic cigarettes don't help smokers stay off traditional cigarettes, according to a recent study.  “Our findings suggest that individuals who quit smoking and switched to e-cigarettes or other tobacco products actually increased...

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Republican legislator gives overview of 'pro-life omnibus bill' that opponents say is designed to push abortion out of reach

By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News Foes of abortion gave state legislators an overview Wednesday of a proposed bill that would strengthen parental-consent requirements, increase abortion-medication rules, require individual cremation of aborted fetuses and let medical providers refuse to do procedures that "violate their...

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Since start of pandemic, Kentucky's case rate is 17% above U.S. average, but state's Covid-19 death rate appears near average

New York Times map adapted by Ky. Health News; click here for interactive version with county rates. By Al Cross Kentucky Health News Kentucky has had a higher rate of coronavirus cases, but probably a lower Covid-19 death rate, than the national average, according to The New York Times' analysis of...

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Daily vaccinations and new coronavirus cases in Ky. are falling at about the same rate, but jabs outnumber cases by almost 7 to 1

Chart by The Washington Post; for a larger version, click on it. By Al Cross Kentucky Health News As booster shots of all coronavirus vaccines approved in the U.S. become generally available, the daily rate of vaccinations in Kentucky is declining. However, the number of daily new cases of the virus in the state...

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Pandemic made chronic shortage of nurses in Ky. an acute shortage; now 1/4 of Ky. nurses say they plan to leave their jobs

Nurse Cydney Kanis at Baptist Health Lexington (Photo by Alex Slitz, Lexington Herald-Leader) One in four Kentucky nurses say they plan to leave their job in the next three months, saying they are "exhausted, overworked and underpaid," writes Alex Acquisto of the Lexington Herald-Leader, reporting on a survey of 850...

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Could we eliminate Covid-19? New study says it's possible, if some portion of the population keeps practicing social distancing

Getty Images via Florida Atlantic University Some experts have said Covid-19 will become an endemic disease, like the flu, that may require annual vaccinations. But a study published in the Journal of Biological Dynamics says eliminating it is possible if some unknown percentage of the population practices social...

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Most Covid-19 measures in Kentucky continue to trend downward; 53 more Covid-19 deaths reported Thursday

State Department for Public Health graph; for a larger version, click on it. By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News All of Kentucky's coronavirus trends continue to be positive, except for deaths, but Gov. Andy Beshear cautioned Thursday that the numbers are still too high.  "All trends continue to be, again,...

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