MONDAY UPDATES: Boone County to host Spanish speaking coronavirus vaccine event Saturday
Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services is hosting a COVID-19 vaccination clinic primarily for Spanish speaking community members Saturday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church.
The event is free for residents 18 years and up. Residnets do not need documentation or health insurance.
If you are interested in getting vaccinated, please leave a voice message at 573-874-7645 or send an email to covidespanol@como.gov.
Staff with the health department will contact residents to confirm the appointment.
Boone County reports only one COVID-19 patient in the ICU
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 15 new COVID-19 cases.
There are currently 111 active cases in the county.
The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 18,062.
The county has reported the total number of cases removed from isolation is 17,866.
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services dashboard has reported the latest five-day average as 14.
The dashboard is reporting the positivity rate April 2 through last Thursday is 17%.
The county continues to trend down as there have been 74 straight days of single or double-digit case increases.
The health department is reporting the total number of hospitalizations in Boone County is 12.
The number of Boone County residents hospitalized is reported to be three.
The dashboard is reporting one COVID-19 patient in the ICU and no patients on a ventilator.
The hospital status remains 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 68,871 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 44,206 Boone County residents have completed their vaccine doses.
Boone county has the largest percentage of people in Mid-Missouri that have received at least one dose of the vaccine with 38.2%.
Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 30.1%. Saline County is third with 29.5%.
Boone Health to hold vaccination clinic at the Columbia Mall. Dozens of appointments available
Boone Health said Monday afternoon that there are dozens of open appointments for a coronavirus vaccination clinic this week.
The two-day event is being held on Wednesday and Thursday at the Columbia Mall.
The hospital's appointment scheduling website said there were at least 35 open slots on Saturday and 57 more on the next day. The appointments start in the afternoon and go through the early evening.
A release from the hospital said Pfizer's two-dose vaccine will be given at the event and that state residents 16 and older can sign up for a shot.
Hospital officials said those receiving a vaccine have to wear a mask, bring a photo ID, wear clothing that allows easy access to the upper arm and bring a vaccine card if it's your second dose.
The release said more appointments may become available later in the week and encouraged people to check the website periodically.
Majority of Boone County vaccinations come from Columbia residents
Boone County leaders said during a Monday morning meeting that most of the people getting vaccinated in the county are Columbia residents.
The county commission meets bi-weekly with leaders from the health department and area school districts to discuss the state of COVID-19 and how the county is handling the pandemic.
Boone County North Commissioner Janet Thompson said in an email 87% of all countywide vaccinations so far have come from people who have Columbia zip codes.
According to US Census data, Boone County has at least 177,651 residents with 68% of them living in Columbia city limits.
As of Monday, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said more than 68,000 Boone Countians have initiated coronavirus vaccination -- nearly 40% of the county's population. The county has the state's highest vaccination rate, according to the COVID-19 dashboard.
Thompson said the local leaders discussed whether residents in rural areas of the county had enough access to vaccines, if there was more vaccine hesitancy in those areas, or a combination of both ideas. The county officials agreed that there was a need to get more rural residents vaccinated.
Thompson said vaccination sites will be identified for future, targeted events.
As of Friday, all state residents are now eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
Fewer than 100 COVID-19 patients in Missouri ICU beds
On Monday, Missouri had fewer than 100 COVID-19 patients in ICU beds, according to the state health department coronavirus dashboard.
The statewide hospital data said 81 people were in ICU beds because of COVID-19. It's the lowest number of virus-related ICU stays reported since Missouri started keeping tracking of the data in July 2020.
The number of ICU stays was about 30 fewer from the day before, the dashboard said.
Missouri's COVID-19 hospitalizations have also fallen. The dashboard said 561 people were reported as being hospitalized because of COVID-19 -- a decrease of 246 from the number reported on Sunday.
Hospitalizations and ICU admissions because of COVID-19 have plummeted. Since January, both rates have dropped considerably with averages for hospitalizations above 2,700 and more than 600 in the ICUs, the dashboard said.
In December, Missouri partnered with Texas-based Vizient to provide hospitals with more workers because the state was running out of hospital beds. Hospitals had the option of bringing on Vizient workers with the state government funding the program with CARES Act money.
The health department confirmed 198 new COVID-19 cases through PCR testing -- 493,728 cases have been reported since the pandemic started.
No more virus-related deaths have been reported since Sunday -- 8,515 fatalities have been confirmed since March 2020.
Health department officials said more than 3 million vaccine doses have been administered in the state with 1.9 million state residents having initiated vaccination. The dashboard said 1.26 million Missourians have completed vaccination.
