THURSDAY UPDATES: New COVID-19 cases reported in Cole, Boone counties
COVID-19 case numbers might differ among state and local health authorities because of issues with reporting and address verification.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
UPDATE 5:20 P.M.: Cole County added another case of COVID-19 on Thursday, the same day Boone County reported three new cases.
Cases in Cole County rose to 55. The county had no active cases before Thursday, but now has one active case of COVID-19. The new case was the county's first since May 9.
Boone County reported three new cases on Thursday after reporting five new cases over two days starting Sunday. The county is now reporting nine active cases, up from seven on Wednesday.
Black residents of Boone County make up an increasing percentage of cases. That number was at 19 percent Thursday, though the county's population is only 8.8 percent black.
Callaway County continued its streak of no new cases stretching back to May 1. The county had one active case Thursday.
UPDATE 2:10 P.M.: COVID-19 deaths in Missouri jumped 30 on Thursday, one of the highest single-day totals since the pandemic began.
The state had reported death totals in the teens every day -- with two days at 11 -- this week before Thursday's large increase that brought the total number of deaths statewide to 661.
Total cases increased to 11,340, an increase of just 108 after two of more than 150 this week. The overall trend of new daily cases has been downward since a peak on May 2 of 326, according to data maintained by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
St. Louis County is by far the leader in total cases with 4,323. However, Saline County in Mid-Missouri is by far the state leader in infection rate with about 1,114 cases per 100,000 people.
Black Missourians make up about 38 percent of the state's deaths.
Boone County health authorities reported three new cases Thursday, bringing the total to 108 with nine cases active. The local increase comes after five new cases reported over two days starting last weekend.
UPDATE 1:20 P.M.: The Audrain County Health Department reported another new case of COVID-19 on Thursday.
The county is the latest in Mid-Missouri to become a hot spot for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Health officials have said the outbreak is largely concentrated at an Audrain County hog farm.
The county now counts 23 cases after having just two late last week. Of those cases, 22 remain active. Results are pending for another 28 cases.
The health department said all 23 cases were contracted locally.
UPDATE 1 P.M.: Home sales were down in Boone County last month but not as much as they were nationwide as COVID-19 continued to put a drag on the housing market.
The National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday that existing home sales were down more than 17 percent from April last year. The Boone County Board of Realtors reports sales in April were down 7 percent compared to last year.
Nationally the median sale price of new homes was up 7.4 percent in April, compared to a 9 percent increase in Boone County.
The largest percentage drop in a statistic locally was the number of homes under contract, which was down 23 percent compared to last year. However, the Columbia Board of Realtors reported homes were on the market for fewer days on average.
ORIGINAL: Initial unemployment claims in Missouri have hit the lowest level since the COVID-19 pandemic started.
According to data from the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, 27,882 filed for first-time benefits over the past week. Statewide unemployment claims fell by nearly 3,000 from 30.702 filed last week.
More than 500,000 jobs have been affected by the spread of COVID-19. The state labor department said 563,976 Missourians have filed for unemployment since March 21.
Across the US, more than 2 million filed initial unemployment claims over the past week. About 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
