FRIDAY UPDATES: Columbia Public Library and curbside pickup to closed through Wednesday due to staffing shortage
The Columbia Public Library is closing due to COVID-related staffing shortages Saturday, through Wednesday.
Curbside pickup service will also be closed during that time
Bookmobile visits are suspended.
The other Daniel Boone Regional Library locations will remain open at regular hours.
Boone County Health Department says no hub update due to high number of COVID cases
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services says there will not be an information hub Friday due to the high number of new coronavirus cases.
Officials say the increase in positive COVID-19 cases over the past few weeks also comes with an increased workload for our staff.
The department will also be changing how information is reported to help staff while still providing data to the public.
Boone County ranks fifth in the state with the most coronavirus cases in total volume in the past week and is first when sorted by cases per 100,000. Cases are up 15.8% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has a 38.1% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports that 117,305 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 103,914 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 65%. The largest county in the state is St. Louis County with 69.3%.
Boone County is third in the state with a reported 57.6% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. St. Louis County is the first county in the state with 60.9% of residents having completed the doses for vaccination. The city of Joplin has 61.7% of the population fully vaccinated.
Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 54.9%. Callaway County is third with 51%.
Cole County reported over 190 new coronavirus cases
The Cole County Health Department reported 192 new coronavirus cases Friday.
According to the dashboard update, there are 15,358 residential cases and 312 long-term care facility resident cases. That is 15,670 total cases in the county.
“Because of a reporting issue with a local healthcare system that resulted in a backlog of data, the Cole County Health Department anticipates receiving a large number of positive COVID-19 cases over the next few days from MO Department of Health and Senior Services. The positive cases date back to the first part of December,” said Kristi Campbell, director of Cole County Health Department, on Tuesday.
Cole County has reported 175 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.
Cole County ranks sixth in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per 100,000 in the past week and 12th overall in total volume. Cases are up 1.6% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has reported a 38.8% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports about 54.9% of the county have initiated their first dose of the vaccine and 50.6% of the county's population have been fully vaccinated.
State of Missouri passes one million confirmed coronavirus cases
The state of Missouri passed one million confirmed coronavirus cases since March 2020.
The state reported 18,708 new and probable coronavirus cases for Friday.
The state of Missouri’s daily average of new coronavirus cases has gone back up to a 9,025 seven-day average (63,174 confirmed cases from the previous week of reporting) as the state reports new coronavirus cases across the state according to state health department reporting. The daily average looks at the last seven days and doesn't account for the past three days, which will push that number even higher.
The state reported 11,365 new coronavirus cases through PCR testing and another 7,343 probable cases identified in antigen testing from Friday, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services coronavirus dashboard. Missouri has now reported 1,008,681 confirmed cases for the pandemic and more than 242,374 probable cases.
The state recorded 330 new deaths for 13,865 total and 50 new probable death was added for a total of 3,156.
Missouri's new cases are down 1% over the past week, the state reports, as recent cases surge nationwide.
The rate of positive tests is 35.1% for the last week. A higher positivity suggests higher transmission and that there are likely more people with coronavirus in the community who haven’t been tested yet.
Boone (1), Callaway (4), Saline (5), Cole (6), Pettis (7), Miller (9), Osage (15) and Moniteau (39) counties are all in the top 40 Missouri counties in cases per capita over the last week, according to state statistics.
The state reports that 5.97% (a .23% increase from last) of vaccinated Missourians have developed COVID-19 infections. The state reported 7,732 breakthrough infections. The state is reporting 200,922 breakthrough cases out of 3,366,901 fully vaccinated people. The state has reported 994 breakthrough deaths.
Experts continue to tout vaccination as the best tool to fight the wave of new cases.
Still, new vaccinations have effectively stalled in Missouri, with more boosters being given daily than first or second shots. The state reported Thursday that 54.9% of Missouri residents are fully vaccinated.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are also trending upward, with the state reporting 18% of total inpatient capacity and 17% of ICU capacity remaining. Those numbers are at 23% and 30% in Central Missouri, respectively. The state has reported a record number of hospitalizations with 3,784 patients. There are currently 711 patients in Missouri ICUs.
Federal team heading to St. Louis to ease hospitals' coronavirus strain
A specialized U.S. military medical team including doctors and nurses will be sent to the St. Louis area next week to help support hospital staff under strain from the omicron wave, Gov. Mike Parson's office said Friday.
The team will be based at BJC Christian Hospital, according to a release from Parson's office.
The deployment is in response to a state request made through FEMA, Parson said. The team will be made up of 40 military medical personnel, he said.
"This team will help support our dedicated local medical professionals who work hard each day to care for Missourians," Parson said in the release. "The best way Missourians can help aid our hospitals and health care workers is by considering vaccination to protect themselves and their families.”
The Missouri State Emergency Management Agency had already helped with the deployment of a 17-member task force to the Kansas City area that has been in place since Jan. 7 and is expected to be in place through Feb. 4.
FEMA is also helping with two AmeriCorps teams to assist at community testing sites in St. Charles, St. Louis and Springfield. Another team is helping at sites in the Kansas City area, according to the release.
The state Department of Health and Senior Services is also granting requests for waivers of rules to add flexibility for hospitals to expand bed capacity.
Missouri's hospitals are treating more patients with COVID-19 than at any time in the pandemic, and COVID-19 intensive care admissions are also at record levels. Hospital bed capacity is at 16% in the St. Louis area, with ICU capacity at 12%.
State adds 249 deaths in weekly review
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services added 249 coronavirus deaths to the state's total in its weekly review of death certificates.
The state released the numbers late Thursday. Most of the new deaths -- 211 -- happened in January, according to a news release. The state added one death each for January, October and November 2021 and 35 new deaths for December.
The new deaths bring the state's total to nearly 14,000 since the pandemic began, along with another 3,106 probable deaths from COVID-19. Deaths are down nearly 30% in the past week, according to the state's coronavirus dashboard.
