THURSDAY UPDATES: Boone County reports 75th COVID-19 related death

Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting the 75th COVID-19 related death.

This is the sixth death this month and 17 this year. The person was in the 80+ age group.

The county is reporting 41 new COVID-19 cases.

The dashboard is currently reporting 187 active cases, an increase of 10 from Wednesday.

The county continues to trend down as there has now been 22 straight days of only double-digit case increases. This is the longest number of days of only double-digit increases since Oct. 13.

The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 17,239.

The county has reported the total number of cases removed from isolation is 16,977, an increase of 30 from Wednesday.

Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services dashboard has reported the latest five-day average as 23.

The dashboard is reporting the positivity rate of 16.5% positivity rate for Feb. 5 through last Thursday.

The health department is reporting the total number of hospitalizations in Boone County is 35.

The number of Boone County residents hospitalized is reported to be 10.

The dashboard is reporting 14 COVID-19 patients in the ICU and 5 patients on ventilators.

The hospital status is currently in 'Green' status. 'Green' status is when hospitals are operating within licensed bed capacity; accepting patient transfers from referring hospitals within standard care operating procedures.

The State of Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard is reporting that 24,179 have received their first dose.

The county has the fourth-largest percentage of people that have received at least one dose of the vaccine with 13.4%.

Saline County has the largest with 16.7% of the population have received the first dose of the vaccine. Montgomery County is second with 15% and Cole County is third with 14.1%.

MU Health Care postpones all scheduled first dose vaccination recipients this week

MU Health Care is postponing first dose vaccinations due to winter weather that were scheduled to be held Friday and Sunday at Faurot Field.

Officials say MU Health Care has not received the expected 4,000 doses of Moderna coronavirus vaccine that was schedule for arrival this week.

“We are still awaiting confirmation on when the Moderna shipment will arrive, so we will wait to re-schedule those signed up for Friday and Sunday until we know for sure when to expect those doses,” said Brad Myers, MU Health Care Director of Pharmacy and Laboratory Services. “Those with appointments this week should know we will reach out to reschedule their appointment to ensure they receive the vaccine.”

Those scheduled to receive their second Pfizer dose on Friday will be able to receive their vaccination as scheduled. Those are not affected by the shipment delay.

Missouri sees increase in coronavirus positivity rate

Missouri's seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate saw an increase on Thursday, breaking a weeks-long trend.

The state health department's coronavirus dashboard said the positivity rate went up 0.4 to 7%. The rate reported on Wednesday was the lowest it had been since early July.

Like other pandemic metrics reported by the health department, the positivity rate is subjected to a reporting delay. The latest information available comes from Monday.

Even with the increase, the rate is nearly half of what it was a month ago. The dashboard said the positivity rate was 12% on Jan. 18.

Thursday's positivity rate increase comes as many testing centers have closed because of winter weather. In Mid-Missouri, several hospitals have closed the testing sites, some haven't been open since late last week.

The state dashboard said total pandemic COVID-19 cases were up to 473,459 -- an increase of 718.

Virus-related deaths saw an increase of 225 from the day before. The health department said early Thursday that 218 of the deaths are linked to the weekly check of death certificates. Nearly 7,700 Missourians have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic started, the dashboard said.

State health officials say 939,810 coronavirus vaccine doses have been administered in Missouri. The dashboard said 666,430 -- or 10.9% of the state's population -- have received at least one dose of vaccine.

State health department reports 200 more COVID-19 deaths

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported more than 200 new COVID-19 deaths early Thursday morning.

A release from the health department said 218 virus-related deaths were added to the coronavirus dashboard in the weekly check of death certificates.

The report said one death each was reported in July, August and October. Six more deaths were reported in November, 51 were reported in December, 126 were reported in January and 32 virus-related deaths were reported in February.

As of Wednesday, DHSS had reported 7,470 deaths since the pandemic started.