TUESDAY UPDATES: City of Columbia opens small business recovery loan program due to COVID-19
UPDATE 7:20 P.M.: The City of Columbia Housing Programs Division announced the availability of grant funding for locally owned small businesses with 6 to 49 employees.
The Small Business Recovery Loan Program application portal will be open and available to applicants on October 29 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Eligible businesses may receive a $15,000 forgivable loan to cover business interruption, adaptation and resiliency expenses in response to the impact of COVID-19. A list of program guidelines and required application materials can be found on the City's webpage.
An employee income certification form included as a requirement within the application can also be downloaded and completed prior to the opening of the application portal. A link to the portal can be found here.
Tipton Correctional Center worker death related to COVID-19
UPDATE 6:30 P.M.: A worker at Tipton Correctional Center in Moniteau County has died from COVID-19, the director of the Missouri Corrections Officers Association said Tuesday.
Tim Cutt said he received word of the death of the prison staff member at about noon Tuesday. The man who died issued clothing to inmates and Cutt said he knew him personally.
The man had been in intensive care for about four days before his death, Cutt said.
The death was the second among Missouri Department of Corrections workers.
Another staff member at Tipton, a corrections officer, is also in a hospital with COVID-19, Cutt said.
The Department of Corrections website says 61 inmates and 18 staff members at Tipton Correctional Center have active cases of novel coronavirus. Other area prison are also reporting dozens of active cases:
- Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center, Vandalia: 167 inmate cases, three staff cases
- Moberly Correctional Center: 94 inmate cases, 20 staff cases
- Jefferson City Correctional Center: 115 inmate cases, 42 staff cases
- Fulton Reception and Diagnostic Center: 109 inmate cases, 11 staff cases
- Algoa Correctional Center: 86 inmate cases, 24 staff cases
Karen Pojmann, spokeswoman for the department, declined to release any information, saying the department does not disclose staff medical information.
The Moniteau County Health Center reported its ninth COVID-19 death Tuesday. It’s not clear whether the death the health center reported is the prison worker’s death.
Mid-Missouri counties reporting deaths related to COVID-19
UPDATE 5:50 P.M.: Multiple mid-Missouri counties are reporting new COVID-19 related deaths.
Callaway, Cole, Moniteau and Saline are all reporting one new death related to the coronavirus.
According to the Cole County Health Department, this is the ninth death in the county and 16th overall (seven deaths are from long term care facilities.
The number of overall cases went up 48 to bring the total for the county to 2,401.
The number of active cases jumped 15 to 232 overall. The number of recoveries went up 32 to 2,045.
Villa Marie, a StoneBridge Senior Living Facility, updated their dashboard recently. According to the new information, the facility has 20 positive cases out of the 72 current residents. One employee is currently reported COVID-19 positive out of the 201 employees.
First Assembly of God in Jefferson City will also be hosting a COVID-19 testing site on Oct. 27. Follow this link to sign up for testing.
The third death in four days has raised the number of deaths in Callaway County to 8 according to the health department.
The number of active cases dropped 50 to 199 according to the health department while the total number of cases went up 23 to 1,046. The number of recovered cases went up 72 to 839 total.
The number of active cases in Callaway include 105 institutional offenders.
The Moniteau County Health Center reports the ninth death of a Moniteau County resident due to COVID-19. The resident was in their 40’s.
Saline County is reporting one death also, bringing the total to 14 overall.
The number of active cases dropped by six to 69.
The number of total cases is inching up 965 after a six case increase.
The number of recoveries continues to grow to 882 overall.
The county is reporting seven residents remain hospitalized due to the pandemic.
Boone County hospitalization remains near record high
UPDATE 4:53 P.M.: Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services reports a near-record number of hospitalizations.
The health department is reporting 89 total hospitalizations. The previous record of 91 was set Monday. Currently, there are three new Boone County residents hospitalized included in the 20 hospitalizations the dashboard is reporting.
According to the latest update, Boone County added 44 new cases, bringing its total for the COVID-19 pandemic to 5,671.
The number of active cases dropped, for the second day in a row, from 373 to 361.
The number of COVID-19 patients in the ICU dropped one to 22. The number of patients on a ventilator has gone up one to 12.
According to the Boone County COVID-19 Information Hub, there are still no issues with hospitals.
The five-day average continues to trend down, dropping Tuesday to 38 from a recent spike of 67 on Saturday.
New cases have largely trended downward in recent weeks except for a short-lived jump in last week. The increase included 100 cases on Wednesday, 39 of which were from delayed reports from a medical provider.
The number of cases over 14 days per 10,000 people in the Columbia Public Schools district boundaries ticked up half a point Tuesday to reach 40.7. The rate has stayed relatively steady after a jump of several points last week.
The rate is one of many statistics related to COVID-19 the district tracks. Elementary students returned to classrooms this week but there is no date set for older students to return.
Morgan County R-II School District cancels Wednesday classes; moves to Category 3 after COVID-19 cases increases
UPDATE 4:15 P.M.: Morgan County R-II School District is canceling Wednesday classes and moving to a fully online learning experience for the next two weeks after a substantial increase in COVID-19 cases reported in the district.
According to Morgan County R-II School District's Facebook page, the district an increase from 3 to 8 active cases in staff and 7 to 23 active cases for students from Oct. 13 to Monday.
The number of staff forced to quarantine more than doubled from 11 to 24 and more than 100 students were asked to quarantine over the last week. According to the posts, there are currently 266 students quarantined due to the pandemic. In the district's COVID-19 tracker, school breakdown 28-percent of students at Versailles High School are currently quarantined due to the virus.
The district will use Wednesday's closure to clean the schools and allow for school supply and computer pick up for students.
Along with online classes, all regular season sports are cancelled however district/state competitions may conitnue for football, volleyball and cross country as long as students are healthy. Middle school practices will stop during the closure.
The district plans on returning to classes on Nov. 5. The district will come back in Category 2 until Thanksgiving break.
Columbia and Boone County move into the 'red zone' in new White House report
UPDATE 2:28 P.M.: According to a new report from the White House, Columbia and Boone County have moved back into the "red zone" because of an increased level in the spread of COVID-19.
ABC 17 obtained the report from ABC News.
Columbia and Boone County were in the "yellow zone" in last week's report but were moved up in the report published on Sunday.
Jefferson City, Cole County and Camden County were included in the red zone as well.
Missouri's rate for new cases per 100,000 residents was the tenth highest in the country, according to the report. The rate was 216, nearly double the US rate of 117.
The report listed Missouri as the eighth highest in the country for its COVID-19 positivity rate of 10.3%. The rate was nearly twice as high as the US rate at 5.4%.
White House officials said, "mitigation efforts must be strengthened, especially in areas with increasing cases and test positivity."
The report highlighted Missouri should bolster mask use, social distancing, hand washing, avoid crowds and ensure residents are getting flu shots.
As of Tuesday, the state does not have a mask order in effect.
State, Mid-Missouri school districts report new COVID-19 cases
The state health department and multiple Mid-Missouri school districts have reported new COVID-19 cases.
Missouri's Department of Health and Senior Services said 1,524 cases were added since Monday. The total went up to 159,625.
The health department's COVID-19 dashboard included coronavirus deaths and testing went up over the last 24 hours. At least 2,615 people have died since the pandemic started, an increase of 25, and testing was up to 2.31 million, up about 18,000.
According to health department data, Missouri ranked seventh in the country for coronavirus deaths over the last seven days, 64, and eighth for new cases, 11,142, over the same period of time.
The dashboard said the state's seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate remained high at 21.1% on Tuesday.
Mid-Missouri school districts report new cases
School districts in Moberly, Fulton and Wardsville all reported new COVID-19 cases on Monday.
Moberly Public School District posted on its website a high school student and a middle school student tested positive for coronavirus.
District officials said 16 students were asked to quarantine after being considered close contacts.
Fulton School District reported one new COVID-19 case.
The school district website said there were six active cases and 67 were in quarantine as of Monday.
A student and teacher in the Blair Oaks School District have tested positive for COVID-19.
The district said the student had been learning virtually since Thursday and the teacher was last in school on Wednesday. Both will continue online classes until Oct. 26.
District officials said five close contacts of the student were asked to quarantine and that the teacher did not have any close contacts.
