THURSDAY UPDATES: Boone County reports Mid-Missouri leading 137th coronavirus death; 4th death this week
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting another coronavirus-related death. The individual was in the 55-59 age group and died Aug. 7. That brings the total number of deaths to 137, the most in Mid-Missouri. This is the fourth reported coronavirus death this week and the eighth death in the past two weeks.
The county is reporting 65 new COVID-19 cases for Thursday.
There are currently 537 active cases in the county, an increase of 19 from Wednesday. The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 22,749.
The county reported 22,075 cases removed from isolation, an increase of 45 from Wednesday.
Boone County ranks ninth in the state with the most coronavirus cases in total volume in the past week. Cases are down 19.6% on the week. The county has a 10% positive test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The positivity rate is up for the previous week of August 13 through Thursday to 29.7.
The health department's hospital status remains yellow, with 119 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals and 18 of them being Boone County residents. Of those, 36 are in intensive care and 13 are on ventilators.
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard is reporting that 100,627 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 88,857 Boone County residents have completed their vaccine doses. Boone County has the largest percentage of county residents in Mid-Missouri that have received at least one dose of the vaccine with 55.8%. The second closest county in the state is St. Louis County with 54.8%.
Boone County is first in the state with a reported 49.2% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. St. Louis County is the second county in the state with 48.5% of residents have completed the doses for vaccination.
Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 48%. Montgomery County is third with 43.3%.
State of Missouri reports over 2,000 new COVID cases for the first time in five days
The state health dashboard added 2,161 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 Thursday morning. It is the first time in five days the state has reported more than 2,000 new cases of the virus.
In total, Missouri's Department of Health and Senior Services has confirmed 622,081 positive cases since the start of the pandemic. That total does not account for the 125,355 probable coronavirus cases also found since the start of the pandemic.
The statewide seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate went up slightly to 13.2%.
State health officials recorded 12 new deaths due to COVID-19, pushing the Show-Me State's death toll to 10,409.
COVID hospitalizations also saw an increase. The latest data from DHSS shows 2,352 patients were being treated in Missouri hospitals on Wednesday. DHSS is reporting 30% remains of the total hospital bed capacity in the state. Of those patients, 688 were receiving intensive care. DHSS reports the state has 15% remaining ICU bed capacity.
Cole County reports 24 new coronavirus cases
The Cole County Health Department reported 24 new coronavirus cases.
According to the dashboard update, there are 10,284 residential cases and a total of 283 cases for long-term care facility residents. That brings a total of 10,567 total cases in the county.
The county is currently reporting 135 coronavirus-related deaths since the pandemic started, which is the most in Mid-Missouri.
Cole County ranks 25th in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per capita in the past week. Cases are down 18.5% on the week. The county has a 12.7% positive test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports about 42.3% of the county's population have been fully vaccinated.
