THURSDAY UPDATES: Active cases in Boone County continue to drop

The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services reported 49 new COVID-19 cases.

There are currently 358 active cases in the county, a decrease of four from Wednesday. The county now has a reported total number of 24,578 COVID-19 cases.

The county reported 24,067 cases removed from isolation.

Boone County ranks 12th in the state with the most coronavirus cases in total volume in the past week. Cases are down 34.1% on the week. The county has a 6.1% positive test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).

The health department's hospital status is green with 62 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals and 15 of them being Boone County residents. Of those, 15 are in intensive care and 11 are on ventilators.

The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports that 101,941 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 92,163 Boone County residents have completed their vaccine doses.

Boone County had a reduction in the number of doses given out after a DHSS contractor got rid of duplication doses. Lisa Cox, communications director with DHSS, says Boone County was impacted the most of any county in Missouri with 127 initiated doses and 86 completed doses were removed from the state’s database.

Boone County has the third-largest percentage of county residents in Missouri that have received at least one dose of the vaccine with 56.5%. The largest county in the state is St. Louis County with 58.5%.

Boone County is third in the state with a reported 51.1% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. St. Louis County is the first county in the state with 52.4% of residents have completed the doses for vaccination. The city of Joplin has 55.6% of the population fully vaccinated.

Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 49.8%. Callaway County is third with 45.1%.

The Columbia Public Schools reports active coronavirus and quarantine cases to their website daily.

The district reported a 26.8 14-day rate per 10,000 for Wednesday.

CPS reports five district facilities (one elementary school, two high schools and two district-wide facilities) currently have staff out because of COVID-19. There is one staff at elementary and one staff at the high school level that has tested positive for the coronavirus. The district has one elementary staff member, one high school staff member and one staff member at a district-wide facility currently quarantined because of COVID.

The district reports 31 district facilities to have students currently out due to the coronavirus. There are 19 out of 21 elementary, six out of seven middle schools, three out of four high schools and three districtwide facilities affected.

There are 38 students that have tested positive for COVID-19, an increase of four cases from Wednesday. The district is reporting 23 students in elementary, seven students in middle school and eight students in high school have tested positive for the coronavirus.

There are 221 students, which are required to quarantine due to the coronavirus, an increase of 23 students from Wednesday. The district reports 162 elementary students are currently quarantining, 29 students in middle school, 30 students in high school and two at other district facilities.

Cole County reports 20 new COVID cases

The Cole County Health Department reported 20 new coronavirus cases from over the weekend.

According to the dashboard update, there are 10,936 residential cases and 284 long-term care facility resident cases. That is 11,220 total cases in the county.

Cole County has reported 161 coronavirus deaths.

Cole County ranks 42nd in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per capita in the past week. Cases are up 5.8% comparing last week to the prior week. The county has an 8.6% positive test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports about 49.8% of the county have initiated their first dose of the vaccine and 45.5% of the county's population have been fully vaccinated.

The Jefferson City School District reported four new coronavirus cases in students and no new case in a staff member.

The district is reporting 11 active cases in students and one active case in a staff member.

The district is reporting 12 close contacts for students and one close contact for staff.

Boone County hosting COVID-19 booster vaccine clinics on Saturday in October

The Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services will be hosting Pfizer COVID-19 booster shot clinics on Saturdays in October after the recommendation and authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for some groups of people.

The clinics will be at the Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services office on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. These clinics will be open to anyone who needs a first, second, third or booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine or a dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Those qualifying for the Pfizer booster doses include:

• Age 65 years or older.
• Age 18 or older with an underlying medical condition (includes cancer, chronic kidney disease, chronic lung disease, neurological condition, diabetes, down syndrome, heart condition, HIV infection, immunocompromised state, liver disease, overweight, pregnancy, blood disorder, smoking or history of smoking, organ transplant recipient, stroke or cerebrovascular disease and substance use disorder).
• Age 18 or older who work in high-risk settings (includes first responders, health care workers, firefighters, police officers, congregate care staff, education staff, teachers, support staff, daycare workers, food and agriculture workers, manufacturing workers, corrections workers, U.S. Postal Service workers, public transit workers and grocery store workers).
• Age 18 or older who live in a high-risk setting (includes long-term care facilities, correctional facilities and homeless shelters).

Anyone with questions regarding the vaccine or booster should speak with a health care provider.

Currently, there is no booster recommendation for the Moderna vaccine or Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Boone County new coronavirus cases continue to drop

The rate of new coronavirus cases continues to drop in Boone County.

The county reported 44 new cases Thursday after not reporting a total Wednesday afternoon. The total pushed the five-day average of new cases down to 25.2 -- a level not seen since late June, before the delta variant drove a summer surge in cases and hospitalizations.

Hospitalizations have fallen to 68 after spending several weeks over 100 this summer. Of those, 15 people are in Boone County ICUs. Hospitals reported "green" status, meaning they are not scaling back services right now.

The number of active cases dropped to 362 on Thursday morning, a drop of about 80 compared to numbers reported Tuesday. The county has reported 24,529 since the pandemic began and 153 deaths.

The biggest age group for new cases Thursday morning was the 10-19 age group, with nine new cases. Experts say the delta variant is making more kids sick and sending more of them to the hospital.

Boone County ranks 70th in the state for most new cases per capita over the last seven days, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. The state says cases in Boone County have dropped by about 34% in the last week.

Boone County is one of the most vaccinated in the state, with 56.5% of its population starting vaccination. More than 51% are fully vaccinated. The seven-day average of shots given statewide each day ticked up slightly this week to about 9,000 since reaching its lowest level last week.

State health dashboard reports Boone County added more than 200 cases of COVID-19

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has reported Boone County has added more than 200 positive cases of COVID-19.

In the last seven days, the county has added 176 positive PCR tests. This adds to a total number of more than 21,400 positives PCR tests within Boone County according to the dashboard.

The dashboard states that antigen testing added 30 probable cases to a grand total 2,531 antigen cases in the county.

There were no deaths reported by the Missouri Covid Dashboard in the last seven days. Boone County's death rate stays at 130 deaths.

Boone County is ranked tenth in the state by total new cases in Missouri, the Boone County dashboard states. Boone County's positivity rate is at 6.1%, which ranks the county at ninety-third for positivity rate.

There were almost 1,500 doses of the vaccine administered within the last seven days. The average number of doses administered within a week is under 215. 56.5% of Boone County's population has gotten the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine while 51.1% of the population have completed the vaccination process.

State health department reports more than 1,800 new cases of COVID-19

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported more than 1,800 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday.

According to the state health department, PCR testing added 1,385 new coronavirus cases. That's above Missouri's daily average of 1,134 cases for that testing method.

Antigen testing found another 474 new cases of COVID-19.

The statewide seven-day positivity rate fell Thursday from 8.9% on Wednesday to 8.8%.

Another eight virus-related deaths were added to the statewide total. At least 11,493 patients in Missouri have died from coronavirus-related causes.

Hospitals across the state reported 1,603 hospitalizations due to COVID-19. Around 283 of those patients are on ventilators.

More than 3.2 million Missourians have started the coronavirus vaccination process, according to the state health department.

That's 53.6% of Missouri's population.