New Columbia/Boone County health order to go into effect Tuesday as cases continue climb
Columbia Mo. (KMIZ)
Columbia and Boone County will see a new health order go into effect on Tuesday despite a rise in COVID-19 cases.
The current Boone County Order (Phase 2, Step 2), is expected to expire Monday at midnight. The next order (Phase 2, Step 3), is expected to be less restrictive and remove most occupancy limits while still respecting social distancing guidelines. The new order is expected to expire July 20 unless extended, rescinded or modified.
The local health department continues to move forward with the reopening while the county has seen a record raise in cases.
According to Columbia/Boone County Public Health & Human Services, the county saw an increase of six active COVID-19 cases on Sunday, with seven new cases overall. Active cases don't always reflect the number of new cases in a day as some COVID-19 patients who tested positive earlier recover and are removed from the active case count.
The additional case numbers put the county at 70 active cases of COVID-19 out of 273 total cases as of Sunday afternoon.
The county health department also reported an increase of five active cases from Friday to Saturday.
Scott Clardy, the Columbia/Boone County Public Health & Human Services assistant director says young people account for the majority of the new cases.
"Really since Memorial Day we have been concerned about the fact that we're seeing over half of the cases each week are under the age of 30," Clardy said.
Out of the 273 total cases, 11 have been hospitalized and 201 patients have been removed from isolation. Currently, there are 105 people who had contact with current cases in quarantine, while only one Boone County resident is in the hospital with COVID-19. Two Boone County residents have died from COVID-19 related symptoms.
Clardy says the issue is, young patients may expose the older populations or those with immune deficiency.
"The concerning thing about this is that a lot of times the research is showing that younger people don't have a severe cases and sometimes they are totally asymptomatic and sometimes their symptoms are so slight that they don't even really realize they have them," Clardy said. "So the concern is that they're out there, potentially exposing other people, including vulnerable people."
The county's new cases have shot up over the past two weeks, as well. Boone County saw a record for new daily cases Thursday with 18. The county reported 41 new cases between Thursday and Sunday.
The five-day average of new cases in Boone County reached 9.8 on Sunday, up from 4.4 on June 1. Before last week, the highest that average had reached during the pandemic was 7.4, according to the health department.
However, for the central region of the state has defined by the Missouri Hospital Association, only about 1 percent of people tested for COVID-19 have been positive. However, the overall case curve for the region has climbed more sharply since mid- to late May.
The data are current as of June 13.
Statewide, Missouri reported a record 413 new cases on Sunday, up 24 from Saturday which saw an increase in 389 cases. As of Sunday, the state knows of 18,003 active cases of COVID-19.
Lisa Cox from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services says the spike in statewide cases can be traced down to southern Missouri.
"The rise in numbers is attributed to an outbreak occurring in southwest Missouri," Cox said. "Those counties are experiencing a localized spike for that reason, but statewide, we are not seeing a spike or surge in cases."
Boone County is one of the few counties across the state still under a health order after Gov. Mike Parson and the state health department let the last health order expire on June 16.
