MONDAY UPDATES: Boone County reports nearly half of 530 new coronavirus cases under 30-years-old
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services has updated its COVID information hub to show new information for the first time since Jan. 21. The health department did not update the hub due to an omicron case surge.
The health department reported 530 total new coronavirus cases for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The county now delays reporting cases by two days.
The county is reporting over 46% of the new cases are for residents 29 and younger with the largest number of new cases being for those aged 20 to 24.
The county has reported 12,036 coronavirus cases in Jan. 2022 and 40,916 since the pandemic beginning.
The health department is reporting 180 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals. Of the 180 patients, 32 are in intensive care and 15 are on ventilators.
Boone County ranks fifth in the state with the most coronavirus cases in total volume in the past week and is eighth when sorted by cases per 100,000. Cases are down 43% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has a 30.9% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports that 117,855 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 104,782 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 65.3%. The largest county in the state is St. Louis County with 69.7%.
Boone County is third in the state with a reported 58.1% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. St. Louis County is the first county in the state with 61.5% of residents having completed the doses for vaccination. The city of Joplin has 62.1% of the population fully vaccinated.
Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 55.1%. Callaway County is third with 51.2%.
The Columbia Public Schools reports active coronavirus and quarantine cases to their website daily. They updated it with new information from Wednesday.
The district reported a 330.8 14-day rate per 10,000 for Wednesday.
CPS reports 17 district facilities (seven elementary schools, five middle schools, two high schools and three other district-wide facilities) currently have staff out because of COVID-19.
The district is reporting 22 coronavirus cases in staff across the district. The breakdown in staff shows nine staff members at an elementary school, five staff members at middle schools, six staff members at high schools and two staff members at district-wide facilities who have tested positive for COVID-19. Three staff members at elementary school have to quarantine due to being in close contact.
The district reports 17 district facilities to have students currently out due to the coronavirus. The district is reporting 11 of the elementary schools, three of the seven middle schools, three high schools are affected.
There are 36 students that have tested positive for COVID-19. The district is reporting 22 students in elementary, seven students in middle school, seven students in high school have tested positive for the coronavirus.
There are 15 students who are required to quarantine due to the coronavirus. The district reports six elementary students are currently quarantining, seven students in middle school and two students in high school.
Cole County reports 113 new coronavirus cases
The Cole County Health Department reported 113 new coronavirus cases on Monday.
According to the dashboard update, there are 16,339 residential cases and 314 long-term care facility resident cases. That is 16,653 total cases in the county.
Cole County has reported 175 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.
Cole County ranks 25th in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per 100,000 in the past week. Cases are down 39.2% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has reported a 30.5% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports about 55.1% of the county have initiated their first dose of the vaccine and 50.8% of the county's population have been fully vaccinated.
The Jefferson City School District reported no new coronavirus cases in students or staff members on Sunday.
The district is reporting 18 active cases in students and six active cases in staff.
The district is reporting 174 close contacts for students and 25 close contacts for staff.
State of Missouri over 2,000 coroanvirus cases; positivity rate drops below 30%
The state of Missouri reported 2,387 new and probable coronavirus cases for Monday.
The state of Missouri’s daily average of new coronavirus cases has gone back up to a 5,361 seven-day average (37,525 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 2,033 new coronavirus cases through PCR testing and another 354 probable cases identified in antigen testing from Friday, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services coronavirus dashboard. Missouri has now reported 1,071,711 confirmed cases for the pandemic and more than 258,224 probable cases.
The state recorded one new death for 13,949 total and one probable death was added for a total of 3,175.
Missouri's new cases are down 38.1% over the past week, the state reports, as recent cases surge nationwide.
The rate of positive tests is 29.1% 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.
Saline (3), Miller (7), Boone (8), Callaway (11), Pettis (16), Cole (25), Osage (27), Camden (32) and Randolph (37) 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 6.86% (a .01% decrease for Monday) of vaccinated Missourians have developed COVID-19 infections. The state is reporting no increase of breakthrough cases of 232,739 breakthrough cases out of 3,392,297 fully vaccinated people. The state has reported 1,067 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 55.3% of Missouri residents are fully vaccinated.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are also trending down, with the state reporting 15% of total inpatient capacity and 15% of ICU capacity remaining. Those numbers are at 18% and 23% in Central Missouri, respectively. The state is reporting 3,386 patient hospitalizations. There are currently 668 patients in Missouri ICUs.
Audrain County postponing Thursday vaccine clinic due to forecasted winter weather
Audrain County Health Department will postpone a Thursday Pfizer pediatric vaccine clinic due to forecasted winter weather.
A makeup date has not been scheduled at this time.
The health department will release the new date once it has been determined through social media and regular media channels.
Boone Health reduces coronavirus testing weekday hours
Boone Health will again reduce the hours its coronavirus testing site is operational as testing demand keeps dropping.
Boone Health set up a standalone testing site earlier this month at its Nifong Boulevard location as the omicron surge drove demand for tests to new levels. But demand has dropped, leading Boone last week to reduce the hours of its weekend testing site.
Monday the hospital said it will also reduce weekday testing hours from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The site had been open until 6 p.m. on weekdays. It's also open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends. Patients don't have to have an order to get tested but must be experiencing symptoms.
The number of tests performed in Missouri has dropped sharply from its peak earlier this month, falling from about 36,000 tests per day to about 25,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of daily positive tests, which have been at an all-time high in Missouri, has also dropped. New cases are down more than 34% in Missouri over the last week, according to the Department of Health and Senior Services.
But cases remain higher than they were for much of the pandemic even with the drop. And the number of people in Missouri's hospitals and intensive care units with COVID-19 remains at levels higher than previous pandemic peaks.
