MONDAY UPDATES: Boone County active COVID-19 cases decrease
UPDATE 5:30 P.M.: Boone County picked up two more COVID-19 cases Monday.
The cases were the eighth and ninth reported since the health department's last update Friday and brought Boone County's total since the pandemic began to 216. However, the county's number of active cases was down five from 39 Sunday to 34 on Monday.
Boone County has seen a spike in new cases after reporting few from late April through mid-May. The county's number stood at 100 on May 15.
Local health officials report one Boone County resident currently hospitalized and 10 who have been hospitalized since the start of the pandemic. Forty-six people were in quarantine Monday because they had contact with known cases.
Boone County's hospitals have five COVID-19 patients in intensive care and four on ventilators. Eight people are in Boone County hospitals with COVID-19.
State says nursing homes will decide
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services released guidelines Tuesday for long-term care and residential nursing facilities ahead of the expiration of a state health order on COVID-19 overnight.
The guidelines include suggestions for nursing homes and other facilities who want to allow visits after being closed to the public since March. Other guidelines have suggestions for communal dining and group activities.
However, the state says facilities will decide on their own policies and procedures.
Local health authorities also have the ability to regulate visits to such facilities amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the department said in its news release.
UPDATE 4:35 P.M.: A resident has tested positive for COVID-19 at a Columbia nursing home where an employee was found to have the illness last month.
Americare Senior Living, which owns The Neighborhoods by TigerPlace, said in a statement that it learned Monday that a resident who was tested Thursday is positive for COVID-19.
All of the residents and staff were tested last month after an employee tested positive. No other cases were found at that time.
The resident who tested positive and that person's roommate have been moved to a separate care unit and are in isolation, Americare said. Employees who work in the special unit will not work in other units and the unit will use separate equipment, the company said.
All residents have been receiving wellness checks since March 13 and now are being checked every four hours, the company said.
Americare said it is also testing all residents and employees for COVID-19 two times, four to five days apart. The Neighborhoods by TigerPlace immediately informed health officials and has contacted family members, the company said.
“We are doing everything we can to ensure we stop the spread of this within our facility. Our staff and residents are following the recommended preventative actions including N95 masks while in the building and gloves when in resident rooms,” Patricia Cokingtin, senior vice president of Americare, said in a news release. “As of March 13, we restricted visitors from entering our facility, and cancelled all group activities until the virus has been eradicated.”
Missouri's order that prohibits public visits to nursing homes will end Tuesday but is being replaced by new guidelines for such facilities.
COVID-19 has been particularly deadly for the state's older residents. All but 24 of the state's 880 deaths are in people 50 and older.
ORIGINAL: Missouri COVID-19 cases went up by more than 200 on Monday for the second time in three days.
Missouri's COVID-19 cases went up 206 on Monday and broke 16,000 to reach 16,189. The number of deaths increased by one to 880 after staying steady Sunday.
The number of cases around the state increased by 225 on Saturday and 173 on Sunday.
Monday's increase was the sixth of more than 200 since June began, as new cases have grown along with the state's stepped-up testing. Cases have also been on the rise in several counties, including Boone and Audrain in Mid-Missouri.
Boone County reported 214 cases on Sunday. Cases stood at 100 on May 15. County health officials have not posted updated numbers for Monday.
State health officials have counted 53 cases in Boone County over the last two weeks.
St. Louis County continues to lead the state with more than 3,600 cases.
State health officials say nearly 280,000 people have been tested for live coronavirus statewide. Of those, 5.7 percent have tested positive. Cases have increased 6.5 percent over the past week.
The Missouri Hospital Association reported Sunday that 612 people were hospitalized with COVID-19. The state's early May peak topped out at nearly 1,000.
