MONDAY UPDATES: Cole County reports new COVID-19 death
UPDATE 6:33 P.M.: Cole County Health Department is reporting one person has died since Friday.
The health department is reporting 260 new total cases and 3,927 total cases since the pandemic started.
The county is reporting 539 active cases a drop of 45 since Friday.
The county reports 286 new recoveries with a total 3,191.
COVID-19 deaths reported in Morgan and Montgomery County
UPDATE 6:00 P.M.: Montgomery and Morgan County have reported seven deaths total from COVID-19 in their latest updates.
According to the Morgan County Health Center, the 13th and 14th COVID-19 deaths were reported Monday.
The health department is reproting 38 new total cases in the county bringing the total to 891.
The number of active cases went up from 121 to 136.
There was 21 new reported recoveries bringing the total to 741.
Montgomery County Health Department reported the number of deaths went from 10 cases to 15 from Nov. 5.
The health department is reporting 28 total new cases bringing the overall total to 377.
The county is also reporting 22 new recoveries with 216 total.
Boone County new COVID-19 cases drops below 100 for first time in a week
UPDATE 4:48 P.M.: Boone County reported its lowest new COVID-19 number in a week.
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services reported 73 COVID-19 cases Monday. This is the first time in a week the new case numbers were reported under 100. There have been 840 cases from last Tuesday through Sunday.
The number of active cases went increased by 83 to 958 from last Friday to today. Another 1,790 people are in quarantine because of coronavirus exposure.
The number of cases from 18-22 age group accounts for 27-percent of all new cases. There has been 2,812 COVID-19 cases in that age group.
The county is currently at 146 cases for the five-day average. The 5-day average peaked at its highest on Sunday at 168.
The department is also reporting a record 142 hospitalizations. Currently there are 49 COVID-19 patients in the ICU.
According to the numbers posted on the department's COVID-19 dashboard, 27 of the 123 patients are from Boone County.
The department reports 21 patients on ventilators.
MU Health is reporting 55 active inpatient cases and 44 pending inpatient cases. At Boone Hospital, the hospital is reporting 43 inpatients with COVID-19.
Columbia Board of Education will discuss a possible return of middle and high school students at tonight's board meeting. However, the CPS 14-day rate tracker has reached 84.2 cases per 10,000. This is the highest it has been since early September.
The district is reporting three new teachers tested positive and nine were considered close contacts. The district currently has 17 teachers that have COVID-19 and 118 on quarantine.
Currently the district is reporting 35 students are positive with COVID-19 and 524 that are quarantined due to possible exposure.
Chariton County reports 64 new cases over the weekend; children’s and teen area temporarily closed at MRRL in Jefferson City
UPDATE 3:35 P.M.: Chariton County Health Center is reporting 64 new total cases since Friday.
According to the health center, the county is has 246 total cases and was at 182 total cases on Friday.
The department has reported 118 cases are active and 128 have been released to the public.
The children’s department and the teen zone at Missouri River Regional Library location in Jefferson City will be closed temporarily due to a staffing shortage.
Children and teen materials are still available for check out.
Items can be placed on hold at the library's website for pickup from the circulation desk or curbside pickup.
St. Louis County may face renewed restrictions due to virus
UPDATE 12:53 P.M.: Missouri’s largest county is warning its 1 million residents that new restrictions will be necessary unless the coronavirus surge is brought under control.
St. Louis County already requires face coverings and has imposed other restrictions, but Democratic Executive Sam Page said at a news conference Monday that with cases rising again and hospitals filling quickly, more drastic measures could be announced next week unless things turn around. St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson also has said that a new shutdown remains a possibility.
Missouri has seen a big spike in cases over the past several weeks.
Fulton elementary students to move online
UPDATE 12:23 P.M.: Fulton Public Schools elementary students will join high school and middle school kids in learning online through the end of the month.
The district said in a letter to families Monday that students at Bartley, Bush and McIntire elementary schools will start classes online-only on Wednesday and return to buildings on Nov. 30.
Fulton's middle and high school students began learning online Friday -- a change that was only supposed to be for this week but has also been extended until Nov. 30.
In the letter school officials said the district has 40 staff members absent.
"At this point, we are no longer able to effectively maintain in-seat instruction at the elementary level," the district wrote.
The letter says teachers will prepare students for remote learning on Tuesday.
The district, like others in Mid-Missouri, is dealing with staff shortages as COVID-19 cases rise. FPS had 206 students and teachers in quarantine Monday because of coronavirus exposure and 14 others have active cases of COVID-19.
Callaway County has 493 active cases, according to the Callaway County Public Health Department. Of those, 257 are in Missouri Department of Corrections facilities.
The health department said Monday that it was closing to the public to allow staff to catch up on COVID-19 case investigations.
Many other schools around the area have had to move to online classes, including several Columbia elementary schools.
Callaway County Health Department closes for the week to focus on coronavirus case investigations
UPDATE 10:56 A.M.: The Callaway County Health Department said in a release Monday morning that it's closing for the week to focus on COVID-19 case investigations.
According to the release sent out from the Callaway County Commission, the department closed because of an increasing number of COVID-19 cases, as well as, a staffing shortage.
The health department will re-evaluate its closure on Friday, the release said.
The Pettis County Health Department also closed for routine service recently. The announcement was made on the department's Facebook page but it did not include why the closure was called.
As of Friday, Callaway County has 493 active COVID-19 cases and had reported 1,572 total cases since the pandemic started, the health department's dashboard said.
Missouri COVID-19 hospitalizations set new record, no new virus-related deaths
UPDATE 10:15 A.M.: Hospitalizations because of COVID-19 set a new record in Missouri with more than 2,000 in statewide hospitals.
According to data on the state health department's coronavirus dashboard, 2,016 were hospitalized as of Friday, the last day data was available.
Health officials said hospitalizations increased by more than 300 over the last week. The record was 51 higher than the previous all-time high.
The data said 41% of hospital bed capacity was still available. It included COVID-19 ICU stays were up to 467 with 36% of bed capacity remaining.
Missouri COVID-19 deaths stayed the same on Monday at 3,153.
Total coronavirus cases topped out at 212,441 with an increase of 3,244. The dashboard said the state added 21,670 over the last seven days.
The state's seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate was up to 37.7% on Monday, a new record since the pandemic started.
Health officials said testing increased by more than 14,000 over the last day.
Boone Hospital Center considering change to elective surgeries as hospitalizations increase
Boone Hospital Center staff warned of increased spread of COVID-19 and a possible change to elective surgeries in a statement released on Friday.
The medical staff alert said the hospital's 20-bed COVID-19 unit filled up and overflowed last week. It included hospital center officials have considered increasing coronavirus capacity.
"We will likely need to increase our COVID unit capacity by early next week if the trends continue. At this time, we need to be cognizant of the marked and rapid increase in community prevalence," the release said.
Because of increasing COVID-19 hospitalizations, the hospital is considering several changes, the release said. The hospital has considered stopping elective surgeries that require a hospital bed, changes to the visitor policy and staffing levels on other units.
BJC hospitals around St. Louis canceled elective surgeries last week. The procedures would not start back up for at least two weeks.
Hospital center staff said in the release one-third or more of the hospital's ICU patients have COVID-19.
"These patients are very ill and require significant resources plus a longer length of stay in the ICU and in the hospital," the statement said.
It included ICU and medical/surgical units have frequently hit max capacity recently. The hospital has had to turn away 59 direct admissions and transfer 24 patients because of ICU bed space.
Hospital staff said the transferred patients were sent to Kansas City or St. Louis because no other Mid-Missouri hospitals can care for them.
