COVID-19

Hundreds of volunteers are vital to pulling off a public health effort almost unprecedented in scale: vaccinating the state’s 6 million residents against a virus that has killed more than 9,000 Missourians and brought life to a momentary halt.

Missouri lawmakers are considering legislation that would shield nursing homes and other businesses from coronavirus-related lawsuits. Some advocates worry the proposal will prevent nursing home residents from holding facilities legally responsible for abuse and neglect.

The number of new coronavirus cases in the St. Louis region is rising after weeks of stable numbers. Public health officials say the region is now in a race to encourage people to get the COVID-19 vaccine before the virus becomes more widespread.

In the past week, children and teens 19 and younger have made up 22% of the city’s new coronavirus cases, said Dr. Fred Echols, acting director of the St. Louis Department of Health. That’s up more than 10 percentage points from what health officials have seen throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

St. Louis soul singer Gene Jackson talked about his new album "The Jungle" and recent battle with COVID-19 on St. Louis on the Air.

The Cardinals play their first home game of the 2021 schedule on Thursday. It's the second straight year they are playing during a pandemic.

The St. Louis region will host several vaccination events the next two weeks where residents can get their first COVID-19 vaccine dose. The large-scale sites can vaccinate thousands of people a day, but infectious disease specialists say they may not accommodate many of those most at risk of becoming sick from the coronavirus — people who work retail jobs, poor people and those with chronic health issues.

Workers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Navy have arrived in downtown St. Louis to help vaccinate people against the coronavirus. State and local officials hope the two-month immunization event at the Dome at America’s Center will help fill the city’s “vaccination gap.” Nearly 28% of Missouri’s population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. However, only 19% of people in St. Louis have.

Inmates at the St. Louis Justice Center on Sunday night broke out of their cells, broke windows and demanded court dates that have been delayed for months by the pandemic. It was the second time in two months that inmates hacked the jail's locks.

The Missouri health department has acknowledged that it has used national data to estimate Missouri’s racial breakdown, rather than data based on the state's population. That information has been a source of frustration for local health officials working to ensure that vaccine distribution is equitable. State officials now plan to use 2019 U.S. Census data from Missouri but say some parts of the data remain problematic.