THURSDAY UPDATES: Camden and Cole County provide updates on COVID-19 cases
UPDATE 9:45 P.M.: According to the Cole County Health Department, there are 32 new cases bringing the total to 2,130 cases.
The number of active cases rose by 15 to 261 cases.
Recoveries rose 16 to 1,782.
Camden County provided a weekly update.
The health department is reporting three deaths.
The county has a total of 31 deaths due to COVID-19, the highest total in the Mid-Missouri area.
The county is reporting 185 new total cases, roughly 26 cases a day. However, the county is reporting 128 new active cases in a week bringing the total to 377 active cases.
The county is reporting 54 recoveries.
Eldon vs. Boonville canceled due to COVID-19; Moberly Public School District reports 7th positive case this week
UPDATE 6 P.M.: The Eldon vs. Boonville Friday night’s varsity football game and Monday’s JV game have been canceled due to covid concerns.
Moberly Public School District is also reporting another high school student tested positive for COVID-19.
Because of the positive test, 11 students are going to be quarantined.
That brings this week's total so far to 66 students quarantined and seven students that tested positive.
Boone County reports one COVID-19 related deaths; 83 new cases
UPDATE 4:50 P.M.: Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 83 new COVID-19 cases.
The health department is also reporting one new death. Officials say the individual was in the 75-79 age group. This brings the county's total death count to 14.
The active case count is also rising to 429, a 34-case increase.
The county has gone over 5,000 total recoveries with a new total of 5,039, with 48 case recoveries reported.
The 83 new cases is also the second-highest increase in a month, with Wednesday's 100-case increase the only one higher.
The 18-22 age group is also seeing a 30-percent with 25 new cases.
The health department is reporting four new hospitalization cases bringing the total to 76. Sixteen of those patients are Boone County residents, down from 24 Wednesday.
Three of those patients have been moved from the ICU bringing down the total to 27 and three of the ventilator patients no longer need them.
According to the Boone County, MO COVID-19 Information Hub there are still no issues with hospitals.
Cole County sees October COVID-19 surge; area prisons report hundreds of cases
UPDATE 12:35 P.M.: COVID-19 cases are surging in Cole County, with three of the highest daily totals of the pandemic reported in the last week.
The Cole County Health Department reported 56 COVID-19 cases Wednesday. The department reported 65 new cases last Friday and 63 last Thursday. The county has logged 500 cases this month alone. That number does not include cases in nursing homes.
The highest daily total reported last month was 48.
The health department reported 246 active cases as of Wednesday, not including nursing home patients.
It's not clear whether the new case totals include positive test results from state prison. Dozens of inmate and staff cases have been reported at two prisons in Cole County.
At Algoa Correctional Center, 85 inmates and 25 staff members have active cases. Jefferson City Correctional Center reported 33 active inmate cases and 29 active staff cases.
Other Mid-Missouri prisons are also experiencing large outbreaks:
- Boonville Correctional Center: Nine active inmate cases and three active staff cases
- Fulton Reception and Diagnostic Center: 63 active inmate cases and five active staff cases
- Moberly Correctional Center: 110 active inmate case and four active staff cases
- Tipton Correctional Center: one active inmate case and 13 active staff cases
- Women's Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center (Vandalia): 113 active inmate cases and seven active staff cases
University of Missouri to start monitoring COVID-19 tracking app
UPDATE 11:40 A.M.: The University of Missouri said in a release Thursday morning it will start monitoring students for COVID-19 symptoms through an app that was required to download at the beginning of the semester.
University System director of emergency management Mark Diedrich said in the release, monitoring stations will be placed at the Ellis Library and MizzouRec on Monday.
Diedrich said the move was made to encourage the use of the Campus Clear app.
The release said people will need to show the "good to go" screen from the app in order to enter the facilities. If members of the university are not able to download the app, they will be subjected to a manual screening.
University spokeswoman Liz McCune said MU Chancellor Mun Choi sent a message to the university in August asking students to download the app in order to monitor daily COVID-19 symptoms.
McCune said all members of the university community are required to monitor themselves daily for coronavirus symptoms but that app usage was not mandatory.
"We know that taking a moment to monitor yourself for symptoms is one of the most important steps you can take to help prevent the spread of the virus," McCune said.
The spokeswoman added staff and faculty members can check the app and some have required students to use Campus Clear in order to attend class but that it's not a campus-wide policy.
McCune said MU is starting off with two screening locations and that more could be added across campus later on.
She added students should give themselves extra time if they are heading to the facilities.
As of Thursday, the University of Missouri had 70 active student cases. Since Aug. 19, 1,737 students have tested positive for COVID-19 and 1,682 have recovered, McCune said.
Many of Boone County's triple-digit COVID-19 cases were from reporting delay
UPDATE 9:30 A.M.: About 40% of the 100 new COVID-19 cases reported Wednesday by the Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services came from a reporting backlog.
The health department reported 100 new cases Wednesday -- the first time the county hit triple-digit cases since Sept. 5 and the sixth-highest total of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Department assistant director Scott Clardy said in an email Thursday that 39 of the cases were from results that came in to a single medical provider from Oct. 5 through Sunday. The rest of the positive results were from tests reported in the previous two days, Clardy said.
The last time the county reported a daily triple-digit case total was on Sept. 5, when Boone County logged a record 221 cases. Since that time case rates have been on an overall downward trend.
The lower daily cases totals had dropped the five-day average of new daily cases to below 50 before Wednesday's large increase.
Hospitalizations continue to increase despite the drop in new cases in Boone County.
The county health department was reporting a near-record 72 hospitalizations on its online COVID-19 dashboard Thursday morning. That total includes 30 in intensive care and 17 patients on ventilators.
Boone County's hospitals treat patients from around Mid-Missouri. While the county's new cases are decreasing, case rates in several other counties and cities in the area remain high. A weekly report prepared by the White House says Jefferson City, Moberly and Mexico are among the local cities in the "red zone" for cases.
The high case total Wednesday pushed a rate tracked by Columbia Public Schools more than three points higher. The rate of cases over the last 14 days per 10,000 people in the district stood at 37.1 on Thursday.
Students pre-K through fifth grade are returning to classrooms on Monday after the school board approved the move this week.
UPDATE 8:34 A.M.: There were more Missourians hospitalized because of COVID-19 on Thursday than at any other point during the pandemic.
According to data on the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services coronavirus dashboard, 1,443 state residents with COVID-19 were in hospitals across the state.
The health department said the seven-day average was 1,371. COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased every day over the last week, the department said.
The health department reported 1,875 new cases over the last day. Coronavirus cases increased to 150,554.
Statewide COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic started stood at 2,442 on Thursday.
Health department data said Missouri was fourth in the US for new COVID-19 deaths over the last week with 63 reported and eighth in the country for new cases over the same time period with 10,780 reported.
According to the dashboard, Missouri's rolling positivity rate was 18% on Thursday.
Blair Oaks R-II School District moves fifth grade online
Fifth grade students in the Blair Oaks R-II School District will start virtual learning on Thursday.
The district reported a fourth positive test in the fifth grade class Wednesday. District leaders said 30 of its 75 fifth grade students are in quarantine as close contacts and all 75 students would learn virtually until at least Oct. 26.
Late Wednesday night, the district also reported a sixth grade student and high school senior tested positive for the virus. Those cases sent eight other sixth graders and two high school students to quarantine.
