THURSDAY UPDATES: JC Schools reports five COVID-19 cases within district
UPDATE 8:30 P.M.: The Jefferson City School District notified families of COVID-19 cases within the district.
In a letter Thursday night, Superintendent Larry Linthacum said the district has had five positive cases. Two of the cases are staff members and three are students.
Linthacum said the five cases across five buildings resulted in seven people being identified as close contacts. Three of the contacts were staff members and four were students.
The schools with a case include North Elementary, Lawson Elementary, Thomas Jefferson Middle School, Jefferson City High School and Capital City High School.
Five of the close contacts were identified at Lawson Elementary, one was at North Elementary and the other was at Capital City High School.
"In every contact investigation we have conducted, we are so proud to see our staff and students consistently following the re-entry procedures, resulting in a low number of close contacts," the letter said. "Current positive cases within the school environment can be found on our website, and will be updated as new cases occur."
The letter also urged people to stay vigilant ahead of the holiday weekend.
"We are nearing a three-day holiday weekend and want to take a moment to ask for your continued support of COVID-19 safety measures while students are away from school," Linthacum wrote.
Linthacum said the district has been pleased with how people have been following the guidelines while at school.
"While we anticipated that measures like social distancing or wearing masks might be challenging for our youngest learners to embrace, we are seeing the opposite: our students are resilient and our staff are not letting any of these measures keep them from building relationships and engaging students," the letter said.
UPDATE 6 P.M.: The Cole County Health Department reported a COVID-19 death for the second day in a row Thursday.
The department updated its COVID-19 website Thursday evening to reflect a seventh death in a long-term care facility. Combined with the three other deaths, Cole County has now logged 10 deaths from the disease caused by novel coronavirus, the most in Mid-Missouri.
The health department released no details about the death.
Cole County also logged its third-highest daily COVID-19 case total Thursday at 31. That number does not include positive test results in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.
The county has started September by sustaining the high case levels it saw through August, when 484 of Cole County's cases were identified.
The county had recorded 903 total cases as of Thursday. Of those, 120 were active, not counting long-term care facility cases.
Moberly School District reports second COVID-19 case this week
For the second time this week, the Moberly School District is warning families about a case of COVID-19.
Superintendent Timothy Roling wrote parents Thursday to tell them an elementary student tested positive for novel coronavirus. The district said the student is in quarantine and being monitored but gave no other details.
The district and the Randolph County Health Department are contacting people who might have been exposed to the student, Roling wrote. He encouraged families to take steps such as keeping sick children at home and making sure students are wearing masks and washing their hands.
The district also warned parents about a positive case Tuesday but did not say whether it was in a student or staff member.
Randolph County health officials have reported 27 new COVID-19 cases this week. The county reported three new cases Thursday.
26 new cases in Callaway County
The Callaway County Health Department reported 26 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday.
However, the number of active cases dropped 13 as recoveries offset half of the new cases.
The county now has 346 total cases since the pandemic began, with 103 of them active. The county has added 43 cases to its total this week.
Westminster College in Fulton reported Thursday that 19 of its students have active novel coronavirus infections -- an increase of six from Wednesday.
William Woods University, also in Fulton, reported 10 active student cases, with seven of them isolating off-campus, in its weekly update Wednesday.
The 26-case jump in Callaway County was the largest in Mid-Missouri outside of Boone and Cole counties on Thursday. Other counties reporting new cases include Miller (6), Moniteau (2), Chariton (2), Randolph (3), Morgan (6), Pettis (5) and Cooper (3).
COVID-19 rate tracked by Columbia Public Schools now 25-plus points over online threshold
UPDATE 5 P.M.: The COVID-19 case rate tracked by Columbia Public Schools has shot to more than 25 points beyond the level at which online-only classes are suggested.
The 14-day rate of new COVID-19 cases per 10,000 people in the school district hit 75.7 on Thursday. The threshold set by district officials at which they would consider having classes all online is 50.
The Columbia Board of Education voted Monday to start school with students learning online but members pledged to continue to review the numbers and the decision. The rate has been rising steadily since Aug. 24, when cases in Boone County started to see a sharp spike as college-age residents began to test positive for COVID-19.
School begins Tuesday.
Superintendent Peter Stiepleman said this week that dozens of district employees were in quarantine because of novel coronavirus exposure.
Boone County records 100-plus COVID-19 cases for second straight day
UPDATE 4:20 P.M.: Boone County saw its second consecutive day of more than 100 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday.
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services reported 116 new cases Thursday. The total was the third-highest of the pandemic. The record is 168, reported Wednesday.
The number of active cases in the county increased by 62 to reach 859. The number of people in quarantine because of coronavirus exposure broke 1,000 this week and continued to climb Thursday, reaching 1,139.
The 116 cases reported Thursday continues a surge this week that has seen 461 cases reported in Boone County since Monday.
The health department reported 85 of the new cases were in the 18-22 age group. Health officials locally and statewide say college-age Missourians are powering the state's continued rise in cases this summer. People in that age group are typically less susceptible to the worst effects of COVID-19 but can spread it to more vulnerable people.
The five-day average of new daily cases in Boone County dropped slightly to 109.2 on Thursday. That number started the month at 34.
This summer's surge is not just happening in Boone County -- other Mid-Missouri counties are also showing increases in cases. The Missouri Hospital Association said in a weekly report that the region's positivity rate for the week that ended Wednesday was 24.3 percent.
The rate is a measurement of the percentage of people tested for COVID-19 who get a positive result. The rate for the state was 10.8 percent over the same period.
Hospitalizations in Boone County fell slightly to 39, according to the local health department's online COVID-19 dashboard. The record, reported last week, is 46.
The University of Missouri on Thursday reported 516 active cases -- well more than half of the county's total active cases.
Stephens College reported seven active student cases.
Missouri COVID-19 positivity rate grows; MU reports more active cases
UPDATE 3 P.M.: Missouri's rate of positive novel coronavirus tests continued its rise, hitting nearly 13 percent Thursday.
The seven-day positivity rate -- a measure of the number of people tested for COVID-19 who get a positive result -- rose two-tenths of a percent to 12.9 percent Thursday.
The state Department of Health and Senior Services released Thursday's COVID-19 data about an hour after Gov. Mike Parson talked about rising case rates and a new saliva test for coronavirus.
"In some Missouri college communities, positivity rates have soared as high as 45 percent in one day" among the college-age population, Parson said.
Watch Parson's briefing in the player below.
The rate has risen steadily over the past three days from 12.5 percent on Tuesday.
The state reported 1,397 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, a drop of about 60 compared to the day before. Missouri's total number of cases since the start of the pandemic in March rose to 88,610.
The state reported three more deaths for a total of 1,545.
The average age of people testing positive for COVID-19 over the last seven days was 38. The average for the entire pandemic is 42.
Many Mid-Missouri counties continue to see large increases in positive tests. Boone County on Thursday continued its climb up the list of counties with the fastest case growth by percentage over the last week, according to the state's online COVID-19 dashboard.
A little more than 1 million people have been tested for COVID-19 statewide.
Missouri's hospitalizations dropped below 900 on Monday for the first time in more than a week. As of Monday, the last day for which a number was available, 890 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized statewide.
University of Misouri reports more active cases
The University of Missouri added 33 active cases of COVID-19 among students living in Boone County on Thursday.
The 33 additional active cases bring the active cases among local students to 516. The school began reporting the number on the first day of classes, Aug. 24. MU reported 159 active cases at that time.
Another 246 students living in Boone County have recovered from COVID-19.
Health officials say the college-age population is helping to power a surge in cases that has broken two records in Boone County in less than a week. The record is now the 168 cases recorded Wednesday.
COVID-19 cases reported at all state prisons
UPDATE 11:35 A.M.: The Missouri Department of Corrections website said COVID-19 cases have been confirmed at all of the state's 22 prison facilities.
Until recently, a few prisons like Jefferson City Correctional Center had not confirmed any COVID-19 cases during the pandemic.
Among all of the facilities, 15 had five or fewer active cases.
As of Thursday, the state prison system had confirmed 949 cases among inmates and 327 for prison workers.
According to department data, 130 prison staff cases were active and 267 were active among inmates.
The department of corrections data said JCCC had two active cases among staff members and none for inmates.
The department of corrections has administered 26,734 tests, according to prison data. It included 44 non-prison staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic started.
Moniteau County confirms fourth COVID-19 death
Moniteau County health officials confirmed Thursday morning a fourth county resident has died because of COVID-19.
A Facebook post from the Moniteau County Health Center said the resident was at least 70 years old.
Thursday's announcement marks the second coronavirus-related death for a resident in their 70s this week. The health center said a resident died from COVID-19 on Tuesday.
The post said no other details about the person will be released.
As of Thursday, all four deaths have been attributed to people older than 60.
According to data on the county's COVID-19 dashboard, the health center has confirmed 216 COVID-19 cases since the pandemic started.
As of Thursday, the county had 14 active cases and 198 that have recovered. It included 15 people were hospitalized because of coronavirus.
The data said the county has added at least 11 new cases this week.
County health departments in Cole and Audrain counties confirmed COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday.
The Missouri health department confirmed four new deaths between Tuesday and Wednesday bringing the state's total to 1,542.
