THURSDAY UPDATES: Boone County reports positivity rate below 4%
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting seven new coronavirus cases were added to the information hub on Thursday. The county now delays reporting cases by two days.
The dashboard is showing 30 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals. Of the 30 patients, three are in intensive care and one is on a ventilator.
The county has reported 42,702 since the pandemic began. The county has reported 13,823 cases since 2022 started.
Boone County ranks ninth in the state with the most coronavirus cases in total volume in the past week and is 49th when sorted by cases per 100,000. Cases are down 48.1% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has a 3.6% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports that 118,638 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 106,062 Boone County residents have completed their vaccine doses.
Boone County has the third-largest percentage of county residents in Missouri that have received at least one dose of the vaccine with 65.7%. The largest county in the state is St. Louis County with 70.6%.
Boone County is third in the state with a reported 58.8% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. St. Louis County is the first county in the state with 62.7% of residents having completed the doses for vaccination. The city of Joplin has 63.2% of the population fully vaccinated.
Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 55.5%. Callaway County is third with 51.7%.
The Columbia Public Schools reports active coronavirus and quarantine cases to their website daily.
The district reported a 10.1 14-day rate for last Tuesday.
CPS reports 17 district facilities (nine elementary schools, four middle schools, one high school and three other district-wide facilities) currently have staff out because of COVID-19.
The district is reporting 15 coronavirus cases in staff across the district. The breakdown in staff shows eight staff members at an elementary school, four staff members at middle schools, one staff member at a high school and two staff members at district-wide facilities who have tested positive for COVID-19. Three staff members at elementary school have to quarantine due to being in close contact.
The district reports 12 district facilities to have students currently out due to the coronavirus. The district is reporting eight of the elementary schools, two middle schools, one high school and one district-wide facility are affected.
There are six students that have tested positive for the coronavirus. The district is reporting six students in elementary school have tested positive for the coronavirus.
There are 12 students who are required to quarantine due to the coronavirus. The district reports three elementary students are currently quarantining, seven students in middle school, one student in high school and one student at a district-wide facility.
Cole County reports most new coronavirus cases are breakthrough infections
The Cole County Health Department reported two new coronavirus cases on Thursday.
According to the dashboard update, there are 16,985 residential cases and 330 long-term care facility resident cases. That is 17,315 total cases in the county since March 2020.
Cole County has reported 17 cases in March and 77% of them are considered breakthrough cases. A breakthrough case is when a fully vaccinated person later gets the disease they were vaccinated for.
Cole County has reported 190 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.
Cole County ranks 53rd in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per 100,000 in the past week. Cases are down 54.9% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has reported a 3.6% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports about 55.5% of the county have initiated their first dose of the vaccine and 51.5% of the county's population have been fully vaccinated.
The Jefferson City School District reported no new coronavirus case in a student or staff on Wednesday.
The district is reporting three active cases in a student.
State of Missouri coronavirus positivity rate drops below 4%
The state of Missouri reported 599 new and probable coronavirus cases from Tuesday.
The state health department is reporting a 272 seven-day coronavirus case average (1,901 confirmed cases from the previous week of reporting). The daily average looks at the last seven days and doesn't account for the past three days.
The dashboard reported 389 new coronavirus cases through PCR testing and another 210 probable cases identified in antigen testing from Thursday, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services coronavirus dashboard. Missouri has now reported 1,127,235 confirmed cases for the pandemic and more than 275,566 probable cases.
The state added two deaths for 15,628 total and one new probable death was added for 3,719.
Missouri's new cases are down 35.6% over the past week, the state reports, as recent cases go down nationwide.
The rate of positive tests is 3.9% for the last week. A higher positivity suggests higher transmission and that there are likely more people with coronavirus in the community who haven’t been tested yet.
Osage (10), Randolph (12), Callaway (24), Audrain (25), Morgan (33) and Cooper (35) counties are all in the top 40 Missouri counties in cases per capita over the last week, according to state statistics.
The state reports that 8.04% (no change for Thursday) of vaccinated Missourians have developed COVID-19 infections. The state is reporting 277,895 breakthrough cases out of 3,455,826 fully vaccinated people. The state has reported 1,690 breakthrough deaths.
Experts continue to tout vaccination as the best tool to fight the wave of new cases.
The state reported Wednesday that 56.3% of Missouri residents are fully vaccinated.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are also trending down, with the state reporting 21% of total inpatient capacity and 25% of ICU capacity remaining. Those numbers are at 31% and 41% in Central Missouri, respectively. The state is reporting 950 patient hospitalizations. There are currently 179 patients in Missouri ICUs. The hospital status for all of Missouri is on a three-day delay, the latest information is from Sunday.
