WEDNESDAY UPDATES: State of Missouri to offer free COVID-19 testing in Cole, Cooper and Saline County
The State of Missouri is continuing to host free COVID-19 across the state.
The state is opening testing registration in 20 counties including Cole, Cooper and Saline from next Monday through Dec. 12.
Missourians can register for these events currently scheduled at health.mo.gov/communitytest and also continue to check back for future opportunities to be tested at an event nearby.
Missouri residency is the only requirement.
Any Missouri residents who wish to be tested with a self-administered nasal swab to determine if they have an active COVID-19 infection can do so at the specified sites in each region at no cost to the individual.
Sturgeon pass a preliminary measure for city mask ordinance
Tonight's meeting in Sturgeon was canceled because the county enacted its mask order.
Mayor Steve Crosswhite says he's fully in support of the county's order and appreciates the commission's work.
Sturgeon City Council voted 3-2 (with crosswhite being the deciding vote) on a preliminary measure to pass a city mask ordinance.
The next Sturgeon city council meeting will be held on Dec. 21.
Camden County reports 47th COVID-19 related death, most in mid-Missouri
Camden County health department has reported three more COVID-19 related deaths making the total number of deaths 47.
That is the most deaths in any mid-Missouri county.
Miller County comes in second with 41 COVID-19 related deaths.
According to the recent update, there are 34 more active cases with 521 cases overall.
There have been 2,534 total cases since March.
Miller and Saline County report multiple COVID-19 related deaths
Miller County is reporting four new COVID-19 related deaths. That brings the total since March to 41.
The health center reports that more than half of the deaths were residents of long term care facilities.
According to the health center, there are now 104 active cases of coronavirus in the county. The total number of cases is reported to be 1,617, an increase of 48 from Tuesday.
In Saline County, the health department is reporting three new COVID-19 related deaths bringing the total to 27.
The county has a 14 count active case increase to 182.
The total number of cases the department has reported is 1,710, an increase of 48 from Tuesday.
Boone County reports 135 new cases; won't report close contacts or individuals in quarantine numbers
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services reports 135 new active cases. That brings the total number of cases to 9,746.
The county is reporting 985 active cases, an increase of 56 from Tuesday.
The county has reported an additional 77 new cases removed from isolation bringing the cases to 8,735.
The health department is asking residents to notify their close contacts due to an increase in cases.
The county has also taken off the total number of close contacts and individuals in quarantine on the daily dashboard.
The health department will not be posting updates on social media throughout the rest of the week and weekend.
The county has reported a one case increase to a 138 five-day average.
The positivity rate currently sits at 27.3% a drop from Oct. 30 to Nov. 6 record rate of 33.6%.
The health department is reporting an increase of 10 hospitalized patients bringing the total hospitalizations in Boone County to 158.
Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services Nov. 25 dashboard currently reports there are 50 COVID-19 patients in the ICU.
The number of Boone County residents hospitalized is 33, an increase of six from Tuesday.
The department reports 21 patients on ventilators.
The hospital status is still currently in the 'yellow' zone.
Randolph County reports two COVID-19 related deaths
Randolph County Health Department is reporting two new COVID-19 related deaths.
That brings the total number of deaths since March to 16.
The county is reportineg 228 active cases currently.
The county has a total of 1,308 cases since the pandemic started. The county has a reported 1,064 patients recovered.
Audrain County reports new COVID-19 death
The Audrain County Health Department is reporting a resident of the county has died due to the coronavirus.
This is the 12th COVID-19 related death.
The health department is reporting 25 new cases today. That brings the total number of cases to 908 since March.
The number of active cases being reported is up eight to 142 cases.
The county has reported 754 patients recovered from the coronavirus.
Boone County reports two more COVID-19 deaths
Two more Boone County residents have died after contracting COVID-19, the seventh and eighth deaths the local health department has reported since the start of last week.
The deaths -- one person between the ages of 75 and 79 and another older than 80 -- bring the county's total to 26. The pace of deaths has increased along with the fall coronavirus surge. The local health department has reported more than half the county's COVID-19 deaths -- 14 of them -- since Oct. 12. The pandemic began in March and the state's first death was reported in Boone County.
The surge has brought hospitals to near their breaking point. The Boone County Commission on Tuesday signed off on a mask order. During the meeting, Northern District Commissioner Janet Thompson said Boone Hospital Center is in the "red" tier of the county's red-green-yellow scale of hospital resources.
As of Tuesday, 148 people with COVID-19 were being treated in Boone County's hospitals, according to the local health department's online COVID-19 hub. Of those, 44 are in intensive care.
Boone County reported 929 active cases on Tuesday after several days with that number staying above 1,000. The five-day average of new daily cases dropped to 137 on Tuesday from a record 169 reported Sunday.
3 MU students hospitalized, statewide inpatient bed capacity increases slightly
The University of Missouri says three students have been hospitalized because of COVID-19.
University spokesman Christian Basi said two of the three students have since been discharged and the update will be reflected on the MU dashboard later Wednesday.
The university's coronavirus tracking website said 2,433 total students have tested positive for coronavirus since the fall semester started. It included the university had 135 active cases and that 2,298 have recovered.
MU added 12 new cases on Monday and 63 since Sunday, the university dashboard said.
The university is moving to virtual learning after Thanksgiving break. Any students leaving campus for the holiday have been encouraged not to return to Columbia.
Missouri inpatient bed capacity increases slightly
Missouri's available inpatient and ICU bed capacity increased slightly over the last day.
According to the state health department's COVID-19 dashboard, hospitalizations went up to 2,698, an increase of two since Tuesday. The dashboard also said the remaining total inpatient bed capacity increased 1% over the last 24 hours to 24%.
The dashboard included ICU admission were down to 653, a decrease of 11 over the last day. Like inpatient bed capacity, ICU capacity also increased slightly, up 2% since Tuesday.
Dashboard data said 3,511 inpatient beds and 487 ICU beds were still open.
Department officials reported 4,071 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday. The state's total since the pandemic started increased to 282,792. The dashboard said 26 more people have died from the coronavirus.
The state's seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate fell to 20%, down 0.3% from the day before.
