THURSDAY UPDATES: Room at the Inn add second shelter location due to COVID-19
UPDATE 9:22 P.M.: Columbia’s emergency winter shelter Room at the Inn will open a second location this year due to COVID-19.
The Inn will open on Dec. 13 at 7 p.m. and conclude on March 14 at 7 a.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church and Eastwood Motel.
The Unitarian Universalist Church, 2615 Shepherd Blvd., will serve as the primary ‘mass care” shelter site for 33 guests.
The Eastwood Motel, 2518 Business Loop 70E, will serve as Room at the Inn’s second location. This site will provide shelter for those in isolation and/or quarantine, as well as beds for medically at-risk guests.
The shelter will remain at these two locations for the entirety of the shelter season.
Camden County reports four new deaths in latest COVID-19 data
UPDATE 9:05 P.M.: Camden County Health Department has provided a weekly update that shows four residents have died. That brings the death total to 44 in the county.
The county is reporting 97 more active cases making 487 active cases.
The total number of cases is up to 2,365 from 2,124.
The health department reports there are 140 more recoveries bringing the total to 1,834 cases.
DHSS changes dashboard by removing state-method positivity rate and begin reporting inpatient bed capacity
UPDATE 8:25 P.M.: The Missouri DHSS has removed the state-method of calculating the positivity rate from the dashboard and is now only using and displaying the CDC-method rate.
Officials had previously used both the CDC and a state method that was considered a conservative method to calculate the positivity rate. Officials at DHSS say the former state method "'de-duplicates' testing data, meaning that only a person’s first positive or negative test is counted causing recent positivity rate measures to appear higher than they would if other methods were used."
Nationally and locally, there has also been much focus on positivity rates. Positivity rates are an important metric used by public health experts to understand the spread of COVID-19 despite the “ups and downs” of total testing numbers from week to week.
On Oct. 21, DHSS began reporting an additional method of measuring positivity rate used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This method does not de-duplicate to the individual and rather simply takes the total number of positive tests divided by the total number of tests.
A month later on Nov. 19, DHSS has moved to report only the CDC-method positivity rate because over 1.6 million Missourians have already been tested by PCR at least once.
DHSS is now also reporting remaining inpatient bed capacity.
Beginning today, Missouri will report inpatient hospital beds and remaining inpatient bed capacity. This metric, as defined by HHS, includes “all overflow, observation, and active surge/expansion beds used for inpatients” only.
Missouri is making these additions because these inpatient metrics provide a better sense of hospital bed strain as it relates to the ability to care for COVID-19 patients, since COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization would be cared for in an inpatient bed.
5th Maries County resident dies from COVID-19
UPDATE 5:40 P.M.: Phelps-Maries County Health Department is reporting the fifth death related to coronavirus in Maries County.
The health department is reporting one of the five deaths is attributed to long-term care facilities.
According to their update, there are 19 new cases. That brings the total to 422 COVID-19 cases in the county.
There are 76 active cases in the county.
The county has reported 341 recoveries.
Boone County reports third highest new one-day COVID-19 cases
UPDATE 4:35 P.M.: The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting active cases has gone up 212 cases, the third-highest day total since records began in March.
This brings the total number of cases to 8,923.
The county has reported an additional 128 new cases removed from isolation bringing the cases to 7,815.
The county has reported a 134 five-day average, a rise of six cases from Wednesday.
The positivity rate reached 33 for Nov. 6 through Nov. 12. The previous weeks rate was 31.4.
The department is also reporting a drop for the second day in a row of COVID-19 patients in a Boone County hospital. There are 147 COVID-19 patients hospitalized, a decrease of 8 from Wednesday.
Currently there are 47 COVID-19 patients in the ICU.
The number of Boone County residents hospitalized has gone down to 36, a drop of six from Wednesday.
The department reports 18 patients on ventilators.
The hospital status is still currently in the 'yellow' zone.
Randolph County resident dies from COVID-19
UPDATE 4:18 P.M.: Randolph County Health Center is reporting a resident of the county has died from COVID-19.
This brings the county's total to 13 COVID-19 related deaths.
The health department is reporting 15 new cases bringing the total since March to 1,237.
The county currently has 346 active cases a drop of 22 from Wednesday.
The county has added 36 residents that have recovered bringing the total to 878.
Boone County reports 2 more COVID-19 deaths, up to 23 during the pandemic
UPDATE 1:36 P.M.: The Columbia/Boone County health department reported two more COVID-19 deaths on Thursday bring the total during the pandemic to 23.
A tweet from the heath department said both people were over 80 years old.
It's the fifth virus-related death reported in the county since Monday.
Multiple Mid-Missouri health departments have made similar announcements this week including Pettis and Audrain counties. Cole County reported seven new deaths on Wednesday, bringing the county to 31 since the pandemic started.
Missouri positivity rate falls, state reports 4,349 new coronavirus cases
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said the state's seven-day positivity rate fell but new cases went up by more than 4,300.
According to the health department's COVID-19 dashboard, the CDC positivity rate was at 23.7%, down by nearly one percent from the day before.
The rate has gone down this week after setting a record at 25.4% a week ago.
Health officials have taken the state-calculated rate off of the dashboard. The rate had gone up to 43.8% before it was removed.
Missouri COVID-19 cases since the pandemic started went up to 257,822 on Thursday. Virus-related deaths also increased up to 3,507 with 30 more reported over the last day.
Department officials said coronavirus hospitalizations were 2,453 with the seven-day average at 2,419. Statewide ICU admissions stood at 582 as of Thursday morning.
Coronavirus admissions to Missouri hospitals and ICU beds have gone up over the last month.
