THURSDAY UPDATES: Boone County reports lowest number of new coronavirus cases since late June
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services reported 26 new COVID-19 cases from Wednesday. This is the lowest number of new cases during the week since June 24.
There are currently 353 active cases in the county, a decrease of two from Wednesday. The county now has a reported total number of 25,106 COVID-19 cases.
The county reported 24,587 cases removed from isolation, an increase of 27 from Wednesday.
Boone County ranks eighth in the state with the most coronavirus cases in total volume in the past week. Cases remained the same when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has a 7.6% positive test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).
The health department's hospital status is yellow with 59 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals and 13 of them being Boone County residents. Of those, 19 are in intensive care and five are on ventilators.
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports that 101,020 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 91,446 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%. The largest county in the state is St. Louis County with 59.3%.
Boone County is third in the state with a reported 50.7% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. St. Louis County is the first county in the state with 53.1% of residents have completed the doses for vaccination. The city of Joplin has 56.5% 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 45.5%.
The Columbia Public Schools reports active coronavirus and quarantine cases to their website daily.
The district reported a 29.5 14-day rate per 10,000 for Wednesday.
CPS reports nine district facilities (three elementary schools, one middle school, three high schools and two district-wide facilities) currently have staff out because of COVID-19. There are three staff at elementary, three staff at the high school level, and two staff at district-wide facilities that have tested positive for the coronavirus. The district has two staff members at district-wide facility currently quarantined because of COVID.
The district reports 30 district facilities to have students currently out due to the coronavirus. There are 20 out of 21 elementary, five out of seven middle schools, all high schools and one district-wide facility affected.
There are 38 students that have tested positive for COVID-19, a decrease of two cases from Wednesday. The district is reporting 21 students in elementary, nine students in middle school and eight students in high school have tested positive for the coronavirus.
There are 183 students, which are required to quarantine due to the coronavirus, an increase of eight students from Wednesday. The district reports 121 elementary students are currently quarantining, 56 students in middle school, six students in high school and one at other district facilities.
Cole County reports new coronavirus cases are down over 36%
The Cole County Health Department reported six new coronavirus cases.
According to the dashboard update, there are 11,037 residential cases and 286 long-term care facility resident cases. That is 11,323 total cases in the county.
Cole County has reported 163 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.
Cole County ranks 85th in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per 100,000 in the past week. Cases are down 36.6% comparing last week to the prior week. The county has a 5.8% 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 45.7% of the county's population have been fully vaccinated.
The Jefferson City School District reported two new coronavirus cases in students and no new cases in staff for Wednesday.
The district is reporting eight active cases in students and no active cases in staff.
The district is reporting 22 close contacts for students and one close contact for staff.
More than 1,400 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Missouri
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported more than 1,400 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday.
According to the state health department, PCR testing identified 1,074 new cases of the virus. That's above the state's daily average of 851 cases for the testing method.
The additional positive PCR tests pushed Missouri's total to 690,432 cases.
Antigen testing found 385 new probable cases. That pushed the statewide total for the testing method to 147,517 cases.
Missouri's seven-day positivity remained unchanged at 7.8%.
The state added 16 new coronavirus-related deaths. There have been 11,821 virus-related deaths in Missouri since the pandemic started.
There are 1,205 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, according to the state health department. Hospitals reported 225 patients are on ventilators.
More than 3.3 million Missourians have started the vaccination process against COVID-19.
That's 54.4% of the state's population.
