Boone County records Missouri’s first COVID-19 death

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The first Missouri death from COVID-19 was recorded Wednesday in the Columbia area, officials said during a news conference at the Missouri Capitol.

Watch Gov. Mike Parson's 6 p.m. news conference in the player below.

Columbia Mayor Brian Treece, who joined Gov. Mike Parson for the news conference outside Parson's office, said the family of the patient identified as being positive for novel coronavirus on Tuesday called 911 and later died Wednesday.

The patient, who was self-isolating at home, tested positive just Tuesday, officials said.

Officials identified the person only as a Boone County resident in their 60s who had contracted COVID-19 from travel abroad.

Emergency responders wore protective gear when responding to the call and took the patient to University Hospital, Treece said. The six first responders were evaluated and put in quarantine.

Watch the news conference about the Boone County death in the player below.

“We mourn the loss of one of our community members and I thank our health care providers and first responders who prepared for this,” Treece said.

Treece said local officials are working with the patient's family to identify exposure risks.

The first responders and doctors who treated the patient were prepared and the system worked well, MU Health Care Dr. Stevan Whitt said at the news conference.

"Unfortunately, we had a bad outcome which raises anxiety, which gives me an opportunity to tell our audience that this is serious," Whitt said.

The novel coronavirus has now spread to all 50 states and has killed more than 100 people in the United States. Public officials, including in Boone and Cole counties, have limited crowd sizes and the White House has advised Americans to avoid gatherings of 10 or more people.

Check back for updates to this developing story.