TUESDAY UPDATES: Columbia Environmental Health issues violation report on AMF Town and Country Lanes; Boone County adds 3 COVID-19 deaths
UPDATE 9:17 P.M.: Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services Environmental Health issues report on AMF Town and Country Lanes violated the local mask ordiance.
According to the complaint, two people have reported people at the bowling alley were not social distancing and wearing masks.
Environmental Health staff members conducted their latest inspection on September 22, and observed multiple patrons walking around without masks on. Patrons were also seated at tables without masks on and not eating or drinking
According to the mask ordinance, individuals can be fined $15 for failing to wear a mask when required, and businesses can be fined up to $100 per violation, with each person not wearing a required mask considered a separate violation.
Enrollment goes up at William Woods University
UPDATE 7:30 P.M.: William Woods University (WWU) is reporting enrollment went up for both online and in person and retention rate stayed steady compared to fall 2019.
WWU welcomed 237 new students to campus this fall. At the same time, the University’s retention rate of traditional undergraduate students held steady, at 72 percent, compared to Fall 2019. And William Woods’ traditional strength in online degree programs continued in a big way for the Fall 2020 semester, with 550 new online degree-seeking students, drawing from 40 states and four countries, an increase of 14 percent over the previous year.
“The challenges we have addressed over the past six months due to COVID-19, similar to all higher education institutions, have been extraordinary,” said Dr. Jahnae H. Barnett, President of William Woods University. “The fact that we have been able to hold steady in terms of new student enrollment and retention, while significantly increasing our online presence in the face of these challenges, is tantamount to the strength and vitality of our University in its 150th year of operation.”
In addition to its enrollment gains, the University also continues to succeed in holding on campus, in-person instruction this fall despite the pandemic, a commitment it made in May. As of today, in the middle of the seventh week of the fall semester, the University currently has zero active cases of COVID-19 among its student population.
“We have always been proud to maintain that William Woods is a school where we will provide students with a quality college education,” said Dr. Barnett. “It is also a place where we will do everything in our power to keep our students safe. The commitment to health and safety measures by our entire campus community this fall has been exemplary.”
Parson Family Fall Festival postponed
UPDATE 4:45 P.M.: The Governor and First Lady are postponing the third annual Parson Family Fall Festival.
The event was scheduled for Saturday, October 3, 2020.
In the press release, officials say the First Lady is doing very well and no longer experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, but out of an abundance of caution, she will remain at the Parson residence in Bolivar for the remainder of the week.
“We are extremely thankful that the First Lady is feeling healthy and no longer experiencing symptoms,” Governor Parson said. “However, we feel that postponing the Fall Festival is the best decision at this time. I fully support Teresa in taking extra precautions, and we look forward to seeing everyone at the People's House very soon.”
The Governor and First Lady are tentatively planning to combine the Fall Festival with their Halloween event at the Governor's Mansion on Saturday, October 31.
Boone County adds 3 COVID-19 deaths
UPDATE 3:58 P.M.: Boone County added three new COVID-19 related deaths on Tuesday.
Tuesday's announcement brings the county's virus-related deaths to 12.
A release from Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services said all three people were over 80 years old and lived in nursing homes.
The release did not say which facility the people lived at. No other information was released about the people.
All three deaths occurred over a 10-day period in September but were reported to the health department on Tuesday, the release said.
Morgan and Pettis counties have also confirmed new COVID-19 deaths recently.
Missouri COVID-19 cases surpass 124,000
UPDATE 3:36 P.M.: Missouri COVID-19 cases went up to 124,762 Tuesday afternoon.
Previously, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services gave out COVID-19 updates for the last 24 hours, now the data has a three-day reporting delay.
The health department's new COVID-19 dashboard said the state added 630 new cases on Sunday. It included Missouri added two COVID-19 deaths on Sunday and health officials tested 4,418 people on the same day.
The information on the dashboard disputes health department tweets from over the weekend. On Saturday, state health officials said Missouri added 1,716 new coronavirus cases, as well as, 69 virus-related deaths.
Missouri unveiled the new dashboard on Monday.
The dashboard added Missouri was the seventh-highest in the US for new cases. It said the state confirmed 9,178 new cases over the last week.
Missouri was fifth in the US for new COVID-19 deaths with 36 over the past seven days.
Boone County adds 21 COVID-19 cases. Health department dealing with dashboard issues.
Boone County added 21 new COVID-19 cases on Monday. However, issues with the health department's coronavirus tracking dashboard stopped the county from uploading new data.
A tweet from the Columbia/Boone County health department said total COVID-19 cases in the county increased to 4,650 on Monday.
The tweet added 317 residents actively had coronavirus and that 13 people were hospitalized.
The health department's assistant director, Scott Clardy, said IT services have been working on a fix for the dashboard since Monday night.
Clardy said the data glitch may have been caused by a Microsoft outage. He added data from the health department's spreadsheet, which is used to update the website, was corrupted.
As of Tuesday, it's unclear when the dashboard will be back up.
