THURSDAY UPDATES: Boone, Callaway report no new cases
EDITOR'S NOTE: The state erroneously reported 418 deaths. The actual number is 417.
COVID-19 case numbers might differ among state and local health authorities because of issues with reporting and address verification.
UPDATE 5:25 P.M.: Boone and Callaway counties reported no new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday.
Boone County stands at 97 cases, with 91 people released from isolation. The county reports five active cases and has seen slow growth in new cases over the past several weeks.
Callaway County also reported no new cases Thursday. Of the county's 22 cases, 18 have recovered and three are active.
Columbia parks taking reservations for fieldhouse, athletic fields
The City of Columbia said Thursday that it has opened reservations for the Columbia Sports Fieldhouse and outdoor athletic fields.
Reservations can be made for dates Monday and after, according to a news release. Each group will be limited to 10 or fewer people and members must stay 6 feet apart.
City staff recommended using the facilities for individual drills, skills enhancement and conditioning. Games and scrimmages will not be allowed.
Reservations can be taken for Monday through May 25. The Parks and Recreation Department will then evaluate the program and decide whether to extend it.
UPDATE 4:10 P.M.: Cole County's number of COVID-19 cases ticked up by one on Thursday.
The county health department reported 53 cases Thursday afternoon -- the second day in a row with a one-case increase. The county is now up to two active cases. Fifty Cole County residents have recovered from the virus and one has died.
The low number of active cases stands in contract with counties in the region considered hot spots for COVID-19 infections. Saline County, for example, reported 83 active cases of novel coronavirus infection on Wednesday. Thursday totals have not been updated by the local health department.
UPDATE 3:45 P.M.: The Morgan County Sheriff's Office says an inmate at its Versailles jail has tested positive for COVID-19.
Sheriff Norman Dills said in a Facebook post that the inmate was booked into jail Wednesday and the sheriff's office was notified of the positive COVID-19 test result Thursday. The inmate has not been in contact with the general jail population and is in isolation, he wrote.
Dills wrote that contact with jail workers was also "minimal."
The sheriff said his office is working with local health authorities to track down the inmate's close contacts to monitor them for COVID-19 symptoms.
The state reported six cases of COVID-19 in Morgan County as of Thursday.
UPDATE 2:46 P.M.: Jefferson City School District said enrollment has opened for its 2020 virtual summer school.
The announcement on the district's Facebook page said summer school will be held between June 3-30 and is available for grades 1-12.
The district is holding summer school online this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. JC Schools partnered with company Launch to hold the summer school.
Enrollment is open until May 22. All students previously enrolled for the program need to re-enroll, the district said.
UPDATE 2:05 P.M.: Missouri's COVID-19 cases increased by more than 200 on Thursday.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 9,341 cases Thursday, up from 9,102 Wednesday -- an increase of 239.
The state reported 21 new deaths, with 417 on Thursday. That's one of the highest increases during the pandemic.
The number of new daily cases has fluctuated throughout the week. Officials reported an increase of more than 300 cases on Monday -- many of them attributed to mass testing at a northwest Missouri pork processing plant over the weekend.
Cases rose by 162 on Tuesday and 186 on Wednesday.
St. Louis County accounts for 220 of the deaths reported Thursday and 3,621 of the total cases.
Meanwhile, numbers in several Mid-Missouri counties have stayed steady or increased slightly. Cole County only reported one active COVID-19 case in its Wednesday update.
Some regional hot spots remain, such as Moniteau County, which had 44 total cases, eight probable cases and 10 active cases as of Wednesday.
Saline County reported Wednesday 211 cases, with 83 of them active.
UPDATE 1:36 P.M.: State Tech College in Linn has allowed some students to return to campus in order to graduate on-time.
College spokesman Brandon McElwain said a "handful" of programs let students finish up course work that had to be done in-person.
McElwain added one or two students were allowed to work with an instructor at a time this week and recently. He added the students and instructors had to wear masks during instruction.
Maintenance workers disinfected rooms after the classes ended, McElwain said. The college also made hand sanitizer available for students and staff.
McElwain said general courses and some technical courses were moved online because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The college's current plan is to have students return to campus for summer and fall classes, however, McElwain said that plan could change.
"We're thinking of every contingency plan possible," McElwain said.
UPDATE 12:20 P.M.: The Missouri Air National Guard will conduct B-2 flyovers in six cities to honor health care workers, essential employees and volunteers in the COVID-19 fight on Friday.
The Guard said in a news release that aircraft from the 131st Bomb Wing based at Whiteman Air Force Base will fly over Camdenton, Cape Girardeau, St. Louis, Columbia, Jefferson City and Springfield. Last week stealth bombers and other aircraft did a flyover in the Kansas City area, as well.
The Guard provided a tentative schedule for the flyovers:
- Camdenton -- 4:14 p.m.
- Cape Girardeau -- 4:50 p.m.
- St. Louis -- 5:12 p.m.
- Columbia -- 5:43 p.m.
- Jefferson City -- 6 p.m.
- Springfield -- 6:22 p.m.
Parking enforcement to resume in Jefferson City
The Jefferson City government says it will resume downtown parking enforcement at 8 a.m. Monday.
Fares for JEFFTRAN will remain suspended, the city said.
UPDATE 11:04 A.M.: The University of Missouri announced Thursday morning a committee of faculty and staff members was formed to make recommendations on restructuring the campus.
MU Provost Latha Ramchand and University of Missouri System President and interim MU Chancellor Mun Choi said the committee will make recommendations on consolidating, modifying or eliminating university programs.
The email from MU leaders said nine university faculty and staff members are on the program audit and restructuring committee. The group is co-chaired by Matthew Martens, associate provost for academic affairs, and Alexandria Socarides, English department chair and faculty fellow to the provost's office.
Former MU Faculty Council chair Clark Peters was also named to the committee.
Choi said during a UM retirees town hall Wednesday that no immediate decisions would be made about changing or eliminating university programs and colleges.
According to the announcement, the committee will meet over the next several months to go over data on program enrollment, graduation rates, program research and productivity, as well as any relevant financial information.
The committee's report will be sent to Ramchand and Choi. The email said Choi will have the final decision on whether to modify or cut programs.
Missouri general revenue collection tanks in April
UPDATE 9:30 A.M.: Missouri's general revenue collections took a nosedive compared to last April as the COVID-19 continues to hit the economy, the state budget director said Thursday.
Missouri's general revenue decreased 54.3 percent in April compared to April 2019, State Budget Director Dan Haug said in a news release. Last year the state took in nearly $1.6 billion in general revenue in April compared to about $725 million this year.
For the fiscal year, which ends June 30, general revenue collections are down 6.1 percent, from about $8 billion this time last year to about $7.5 billion this year.
Sales tax collections increased slightly, but income tax and franchise tax collections took a huge hit, according to Haug's numbers. Individual income tax collections were down nearly 64 percent for the month while corporate income tax collections were down 66.3 percent for the month.
Missouri was under a stay-at-home order for much of April that closed a large swath of the business sector. Some local jurisdictions, such as Boone County, also had their own orders in place that were more strict than the state's.
The state order expired Sunday and was replaced by a reopening order that allows for all businesses to close. Some local orders that are more strict remain in place, however. Boone County's current order prevents some businesses, including movie theaters and large venues, from reopening.
The Boone County order is in place indefinitely.
UPDATE 8:49 A.M.: The Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations announced Thursday more than 52,000 Missourians filed for unemployment last week, down slightly from the week before.
In the first week of May, 52,203 state residents filed unemployment claims. Initial claims were down from 54,710 reported in the last week of April.
Unemployment claims have fallen over the past three weeks. The biggest spike in unemployment numbers was reported in the last week of March with more than 104,000 inital claims filed.
According to labor department data, about 300,000 state workers filed initial claims over the past month. The department's website said 505,392 workers have filed unemployment claims since the COVID-19 pandemic started.
More than 3 million Americans filed for unemployment in the last week of April. At least 33.5 million have been affected by layoffs and furloughs since Mid-March.
ORIGINAL: Gov. Mike Parson will visit two Jefferson City businesses Thursday to talk about the "Show Me Strong Recovery" plan.
Parson will be at the Truman Boulevard HyVee at 9:45 a.m. before going to the Orscheln Farm & Home on Missouri Boulevard at 10:20 a.m.
He will meet with employees to talk about the state's recovery plan.
The first phase of that plan went into effect on Monday.
