WEDNESDAY UPDATES: Cole County reports new COVID-19 case
UPDATE 5:10 P.M.: Cole County reported a new COVID-19 case on Wednesday, bringing the total to 52.
The new case is the only active case in Cole County, the county health department reported on its website. Fifty people in Cole County have recovered from COVID-19 and one has died.
Boone and Callaway counties reported no new cases Wednesday. In Boone, the number of cases stood at 97, with 91 people released from isolation. Five cases are active and one person has died. Callaway County continued to report 22 cases with four active. One person has died there, as well.
UPDATE 4:15 P.M.: University of Missouri Health Care will require patients and visitors to begin wearing masks in all patient care areas.
The policy began Wednesday. MU Health included the news in a list of steps the health care provider said it is taking to protect staff, patients and visitors.
The masks in patient areas rule extends to employees, as well.
"This measure was taken out of an abundance of caution and to provide peace of mind and will be reevaluated in 21 days," MU Health said in a news release.
Among the other precautions the health care provider is taking is temperature checks for everyone entering its buildings.
BJC HealthCare, which owns Boone Hospital Center, said earlier Wednesday that it had implemented a mask policies for all patients and visitors, as well.
Both hospitals continue to restrict visitors to help prevent COVID-19 infections.
UPDATE 2:05 P.M.: The number of COVID-19 cases in Missouri rose by more than 180.
The number rose by 186 to 9.102, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The statewide death total rose by 19 to 396, tying Tuesday's increase.
Nearly 3,500 of the cases statewide are in St. Louis County, along with 189 deaths.
Total cases went up about 160 on Tuesday.
The state posted detailed data officials are using to drive their decisions late Tuesday. The data includes information on hospital resources and testing to date. As of Saturday, the state had tested about 90,000 people with a positive test rate of about 9 percent, according to the data.
Area hot spot Moniteau County has one of the highest positive test rates in the state at 20 percent.
The data include projections for hospitalizations in different regions of the state and shows an expected continued lowering in the number for central Missouri.
Gov. Mike Parson will give his daily COVID-19 briefing at 3 p.m. Watch it live in the player below.
UPDATE 12:40 P.M.: St. Louis and St. Louis County will both begin easing stay-at-home orders starting later this month, but officials caution that the process will be slow for the area of Missouri most ravaged by the coronavirus.
St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson and St. Louis County Executive Sam Page both announced late Tuesday that public health restrictions would be reduced starting May 18. Page said Wednesday that the reopening process will be driven by metrics like hospitalizations, ventilator usage and rises or falls in confirmed cases.
About two-thirds of Missouri's confirmed COVID-19 cases, and about half the deaths, have occurred in the city and county combined.
ORIGINAL: Visitors to Boone Hospital Center and other BJC HealthCare facilities are being required to wear a mask starting Wednesday to help prevent the further spread of COVID-19.
The hospital, like the hospitals operated by University of Missouri Health Care, began limiting who can visit patients weeks ago as the number of COVID-19 cases grew. Now Boone says those few visitors it is allowing in will have to wear masks, as will patients.
Hospitals have also started to resume some procedures that had been put on hold while stay-at-home orders were in place.
“This additional measure of caution inside our facilities is an important step, especially as we begin to resume some of our normal operations,” Hilary Babcock, director of infection prevention at BJC HealthCare, said in a news release. “Many people already use masks when they need to be in public places where social distancing is difficult to maintain.”
Children under 2 and those with difficulty breathing won't have to wear masks, BJC says. Patients are encouraged to wear their own masks but BJC says it will provide them one if needed.
Police union to deliver N95 masks
The Columbia Police Officers Association says it will distribute N95 masks for all Boone County law enforcement officers Wednesday.
The association, which represents Columbia Police Department officers, will give out the masks at its Vandiver Drive headquarters. The masks come from the state Fraternal Order of Police, of which the local union is a chapter.
The masks have already passed a fit test, CPOA director Dale Roberts said in a news release. Local agencies had to return masks to the state last month because of fit issues and a recent donation of masks by a group working with former Gov. Eric Greitens also had fit issues.
William Woods plans for fall classes
William Woods University in Fulton said Wednesday that it is making plans to host classes on campus in August.
The fall semester is scheduled to start Aug. 24.
The university this week began a phased return of faculty and staff to campus as a state reopening order took effect, William Woods said in a news release.
The university, which became a hot spot for COVID-19 cases in Callaway County early in the COVID-19 pandemic, said it will take precautions as classes resume. Those precautions include extra cleaning and sanitation, scheduling classes in larger rooms so students can sit at least 6 feet apart and evaluating on-campus housing for social distancing requirements.
