THURSDAY UPDATES: Boone County reports 39 new COVID cases

The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting that 39 new coronavirus cases were added to the information hub on Thursday. The county reported 35 new cases on Tuesday, the rest of the cases were reported in the month of July.

The county delays reporting cases by two days.

The dashboard is showing 35 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals. There are four patients in the ICU and one patient is on a ventilator.

The health care system capacity moved to yellow. Yellow status means:

• Delaying non-emergency patient transfers from referring hospitals due to capacity for greater than two (2) days, or
• Delaying non-emergency patient transfers from referring hospitals due to staffing for greater than two (2) consecutive days, or
• Delaying non-urgent procedures and operations to provide additional inpatient capacity

Additionally, 48,711 COVID-19 cases were recorded previously.

Boone County is reported to have a medium COVID-19 community level, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS). This comes after several weeks when the community level was considered high.

Here are the CDC's risk mitigation recommendations for the yellow (medium) level:

• Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines.
• Get tested if you have symptoms.
• Wear a mask if you have symptoms, a positive test, or exposure to someone with COVID-19.
• Wear a mask on public transportation.
• You may choose to wear a mask at any time as an additional precaution to protect yourself and others.
• If you are at high risk for severe illness, consider wearing a mask indoors in public and taking additional precautions.

If you took a COVID-19 test at home that was positive, Boone County is also encouraging those that took the test to report the results at the link.

Cole County reports five new coronavirus cases

The Cole County Health Department reported one new coronavirus case was added on July 14, two cases were added on Monday, one case was added on Tuesday and one case was added on Wednesday.

The county reported five total new cases on Thursday.

In the week prior to July 15, there were 68 COVID positive cases, 43 breakthrough cases and zero COVID deaths.

According to a release, 61% or 46,791 of Cole County residents have received at least one dose of the COVID Vaccine.