MONDAY UPDATES: Boone County reports over 160 new COVID cases

The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting that 164 new coronavirus cases were added to the information hub on Monday. The county reported 27 cases on Saturday, 28 cases on Friday and 63 cases on Thursday, the rest of the cases were reported in the month of July.

The county delays reporting cases by two days.

The dashboard is showing 34 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals. There are seven 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, 48,933 COVID-19 cases were recorded previously.

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

Here are the CDC's risk mitigation recommendations for the red (high) level:

• Wear a mask indoors in public
• Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines
• Get tested if you have symptoms
• Additional precautions may be needed for people at high risk for severe illness

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 19 new COVID cases

The Cole County Health Department reported 19 new coronavirus cases on Monday. The county reported two new cases on Wednesday, four new cases on Thursday, four new cases on Friday, five new cases on Saturday and four new cases on Sunday.

In the week prior to July 22, there were 73 COVID positive cases, 44 breakthrough cases and zero COVID deaths.

According to a release, 61% or 46,850 of Cole County residents have received at least one dose of the COVID Vaccine.