WEDNESDAY UPDATES: Boone County reports 17 residents hospitalized; 42 new coronavirus cases

The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services reported 42 new COVID-19 cases from Tuesday.

There are currently 334 active cases in the county, a decrease of 30 from Tuesday. The county now has a reported total number of 24,804 COVID-19 cases.

The county reported 24,310 cases removed from isolation, an increase of 72 from Tuesday.

Boone County ranks 10th in the state with the most coronavirus cases in total volume in the past week. Cases are down 12.1% comparing last week to the prior week. The county has a 6.4% positive test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).

The health department's hospital status is green with 53 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals and 17 of them being Boone County residents. Of those, 14 are in intensive care and nine are on ventilators.

The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports that 101,491 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 91,873 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 56.2%. The largest county in the state is St. Louis County with 58.9%.

Boone County is third in the state with a reported 50.9% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. St. Louis County is the first county in the state with 52.8% of residents have completed the doses for vaccination. The city of Joplin has 56% of the population fully vaccinated.

Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 49.9%. Callaway County is third with 45.2%.

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

The district reported a 26.2 14-day rate per 10,000 for Tuesday.

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

The district reports 28 district facilities to have students currently out due to the coronavirus. There are 16 out of 21 elementary, all the middle schools, three out of four high schools and two districtwide facilities affected.

There are 35 students that have tested positive for COVID-19, an increase of six cases from Tuesday. The district is reporting 17 students in elementary, four students in middle school and 14 students in high school have tested positive for the coronavirus.

There are 218 students, which are required to quarantine due to the coronavirus, an increase of 46 students from Tuesday. The district reports 153 elementary students are currently quarantining, 31 students in middle school, 32 students in high school and three at other district facilities.

Cole County adds 10 new coronavirus cases; residents near 50 percent vaccine initiation

The Cole County Health Department reported ten new coronavirus cases from Tuesday.

According to the dashboard update, there are 10,991 residential cases and 285 long-term care facility resident cases. That is 11,276 total cases in the county.

Cole County has reported 161 coronavirus deaths.

Cole County ranks 69th in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per 100,000 in the past week. Cases are down 34.5% comparing last week to the prior week. The county has a 7.2% positive test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports about 49.9% of the county have initiated their first dose of the vaccine and 45.6% of the county's population have been fully vaccinated.

The Jefferson City School District reported one new coronavirus case in a staff member.

The district is reporting nine active cases in students and two active cases in a staff member.

The district is reporting 15 close contacts for students and one close contact for staff.

Missouri adds more than 1,900 new cases of COVID-19

More than 1,900 new cases of COVID-19 were reported across Missouri on Wednesday.

According to data from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, PCR testing added 1,336 new cases. That's above the state's daily average of 1,031 cases for the testing method.

At least 683,145 people have tested positive for COVID-19 through the use of PCR testing.

Antigen testing added another 596 new probable cases. That increased the statewide total for the testing method to 145,086 cases.

Missouri's seven-day positivity rate fell Wednesday from 8.6% on Tuesday to 8.5%.

The state added three new virus-related deaths. That pushed Missouri's total to 11,676 virus-related deaths since the pandemic started.

According to the state health department, 1,376 patients are hospitalized due to COVID-19. Hospitals reported 241 patients are on ventilators.

More than 3.3 million Missourians have started the vaccination process against COVID-19.

That's 54% of the state's population.