TUESDAY UPDATES: Pettis County reporting two more COVID-19 related deaths
UPDATE 9:54 P.M.: Pettis County Health Center is reporting two additional Pettis County resident deaths due to COVID-19. This is the 29th and 30th COVID-19 deaths in the county.
According to the health center, there are 950 active cases in the county.
The total number of cases in the county is 2,809.
The county is reporting 1,829 cases have been released to normal activities.
Cole County reports 56 new cases
UPDATE 6:20 P.M.: Cole County Health Department is reporting 56 new cases in today's update.
Today's new cases are the third lowest in November after a spike of 204 on Nov. 13.
According to the dashboard, there are 4,721 cases in the county.
Audrain County reports three COVID-19 related deaths
UPDATE 5:44 P.M.: Audrain County Health Department is reporting three COVID-19 related deaths.
The health department reports there have been 770 total cases in the county since March.
Right now, there are 118 active cases in the county, a drop of 20 from Monday.
The county has reported 19 new recoveries.
The health department has added the number of cases in a city unless there are 10 or less cases or the city has a population under 100 to protect the identity of the patient.
There are 82 cases in the city of Mexico and 12 cases in Vandalia.
Montgomery County warns residents about potential exposure risk
UPDATE 5:17 P.M.: Montgomery County Health Department is warning residents about potentional exposure at MFA in Rhineland.
According to officials, exposure could have occurred on Nov. 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13th between the hours of 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.
If you were at the location, then you should monitor for coronavirus symptoms.
Boone County active cases drop below 1,200
UPDATE 4:50 P.M.: The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting active cases have dropped below 1,200 cases. The previous high was on Sept. 5 when active cases reached 1,066 cases.
According to the dashboard there are 1,197 active cases a drop from 1,211.
The county is reporting 103 new cases bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases to 8,565.
The county has a reported an additional 115 new cases removed from isolation bringing the cases to 7,347.
The county has reported a 125 five-day average, a drop for the third straight day.
According to the dashboard, the positivity rate has been above 30 for the last two weeks. For Oct. 30 to Nov. 5, the rate was 31.3%. For Nov. 6 through Nov. 12, the rate has gone up to 32.5%.
The department is also reporting 163 COVID-19 patients hospitalized, an increase of five from Monday.
Currently there are 47 COVID-19 patients in the ICU.
According to the numbers posted on the department's COVID-19 dashboard, 38 of the 163 patients are from Boone County.
The department reports 22 patients on ventilators.
The hospital status is still currently in the 'yellow' zone.
Earlier today the department also reported the latest two death in the county bringing the total to 21. The individuals were in the 50-54 and 80+ age groups.
Missouri Hospital Association asks Gov. Parson to issue statewide mask mandate
UPDATE 4:30 P.M.: Missouri Hospital Association sent a letter to Missouri Gov. Mike Parson today asking for the state to issue a statewide mask mandate.
The letter, which you can read here, says that the governor has had more than 20 conversations with the association's membership during the pandemic.
However, the "wolf is at the door."
According to the MHA dashboard, the state of Missouri has a positive rate of 23.5% with a reproductive rate of 1.19.
The hospital dashboard reveals medical bed availability is still in the green but nears yellow. The ICU and ventilator are in the yellow with ICU near 26.86% and ventilator availability at 23.49 per 100,000.
Jefferson City Municipal Division cancels Wednesday court due to COVID-19
UPDATE 3:15 P.M.: Jefferson City Municipal Division is canceling Wednesday court due to staffing shortage due to COVID-19.
Officials say the hearings will be rescheduled and
continuances will be entered in all affected cases.
If this affects your court date you can contact the Municipal Court Clerk’s office at 573-634-6316 for more information.
While attendance at the Municipal Court on Wednesday is not necessary, the Municipal Court office will be open to the public with restrictions.
Missouri teachers union latest to urge coronavirus action
UPDATE 2 P.M.: The union representing St. Louis teachers is calling for a statewide mask mandate, a proposal that also has the backing of Missouri's two largest teacher organizations, The Associated Press reports.
The interim president of the American Federation of Teachers St. Louis Local 420, Ray Cummings, says it's time for Republican Gov. Mike Parson "to follow science and the advice of health care professionals" and issue a mask mandate. Outside St. Louis, Missouri teachers are largely represented by either the Missouri National Education Association or the Missouri State Teachers Association. Both said Tuesday that they would support a statewide mask mandate.
The two organizations each represent teachers in Columbia Public Schools. The local chapter of the Missouri National Education Association is the collective bargaining agent for teachers with the CPS administration.
New White House report says nearly all Missouri counties are in 'red zone'
UPDATE 11:30 A.M.: The most recent White House red zone report said nearly all of Missouri's counties were in the red for new coronavirus cases over the last three weeks.
The report obtained by ABC News was published on Sunday.
White House officials say 111 out of Missouri's 114 counties were in the red zone. Two of the remaining counties were in the yellow zone.
It included the state ranked 17th in the US for new cases and 7th for positivity rate.
According to the data, Missouri added 485 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over the last week. It's nearly 200 more than the national average of 294 for the same population size.
The report included statewide case increases went up 41% since last week's report.
Officials recommend state leaders make all residents understand the COVID-19 pandemic ahead of upcoming holidays.
"The spread in Missouri is exponential and unyielding with hospitalizations increasing week over week," White House officials said in the red zone report. "Increases from the past two weeks correlate with Halloween and related activities. With Thanksgiving and upcoming holidays, Missourians must understand the COVID-19 situation statewide."
Gov. Mike Parson and the state health director said during a news conference last week that all Missourians need to be wearing masks, washing their hands and social distancing. At the time, Parons said residents need be acccountable for wearing mask.
Neither leader agreed to implementing a statewide mask mandate.
Recently, statewide COVID-19 hospitalizations have set and broken new daily records. New hospital admissions have increased 30% over the last week, with most of them for people 40 years old and older, the report said. It included hospitalizations have increased among all age groups.
The report also recommended new virus mitigation tools are needed as COVID-19 continues to spread.
"Referring to the national profiles in the back of the packet, there is now aggressive, unrelenting, expanding broad community spread across the country, reaching most counties, without evidence of improvement but rather, further deterioration. Current mitigation efforts are inadequate and must be increased to flatten the curve to sustain the health system for both COVID and non-COVID emergencies."
For the second week in a row, the report highlighted the need for proactive testing in Missouri. The report also recommended all students and teachers wear masks when in school.
Missouri reports 5,700+ new COVID-19 cases and sees decrease in positivity rate
UPDATE 10:22 A.M.: Missouri reported more than 5,700 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the second-highest daily increase since the pandemic started.
Total coronavirus cases increased to 248,886 on Tuesday, up 5,717 from the day before.
State health officials said Missouri added a record 6,346 new cases on Saturday.
Virus-related deaths since the pandemic started went up to 3,453. Deaths were 67 higher since Monday, 42 of which were added after state health officials reviewed recent death certificates.
The health department's COVID-19 dashboard said the seven-day positivity rate and coronavirus hospitalizations have decreased slightly since Monday.
According to department data, the positivity rate was at 43.4%, down 0.6% from the day before.
The rate is still near the highest its been since the pandemic started. Positivity rates have increased significantly over the last month and have nearly doubled since Oct. 23.
Missouri hospitalizations because of COVID-19 were reported at 2,454 on Tuesday. A decrease of 74 over the last day.
Like the positivity rate, hospitalizations are still near record highs even with the slight drop.
The dashboard said 30% of ICU bed space is still available as of Tuesday. It included 570 with coronavirus were in ICU beds, 11 more since Monday.
Boone County reports 2 more coronavirus deaths, up to 21 since pandemic started
Boone County health officials reported two more COVID-19 deaths Tuesday morning.
A tweet from the Columbia/Boone County health department said one resident was between 50-54 years old and the other was older than 80.
As of Tuesday, 21 county residents have died from coronavirus since the pandemic started.
The health department reported its 19th virus-related death on Monday and four total since November started.
