WEDNESDAY UPDATES: Columbia Public School Finance Committee votes to recommend extension of COVID-19 leave for employees
The Columbia Public Schools Finance Committee voted to recommend school leaders approve a measure that would extend COVID-19 leave for employees thru June of next year.
During tonight's meeting, school officials said the district already paid more than $312,000 in leave due to staff members needing to quarantine.
We're told more than 380 employees have needed to isolate since August.
The district is reporting more than 95 cases for every 10,000 people living within the district boundaries.
Saline and Miller County report COVID-19 related deaths
Saline County Health Department is reporting two new COVID-19 related deaths, both men were 86-years-old. The county has reported 36 deaths since March.
The health department is reporting 138 active cases and 1,911 total cases.
Currently the county has nine residents hospitalized due to the coronavirus.
The county has a reported 1,737 cases recovered.
In Miller County, the health center is reporting one coronavirus related death. That brings the total number of deaths in the county to 43.
There are currently 122 active cases, a drop of 30 from their last report.
The health center has reported a total of 1,862 cases since the pandemic began in the county.
Currently, there are six county residents hospitalized due to the coronavirus.
Cole County reports 68th COVID-19 related death
Cole County Health Department is reporting one COVID-19 related death of a resident.
This is the 30th death of a resident in the county. There has been 38th deaths in long term care facility residents.
The county is reporting 63 new cases in the county. There has been a total of 5,955 cases since March.
The county is also reporting two new cases in long term care facility residents. That brings the total number of cases to 235.
There have been 6,190 total cases in the county.
Three mid-Missouri counties report COVID-19 related deaths
Pettis, Chariton, and Randolph County are each reporting COVID-19 related deaths.
In Pettis County, the health center is reporting two COVID-19 related deaths. The county has a reported 39 deaths since March.
There have been 3,671 total coronavirus cases and currently, 858 of them are active.
The county has reported 2,774 of those cases as recovered. There are currently 22 residents of the county in a hospital due to the virus.
The Chariton County Health Center is reporting the ninth and 10th COVID-19 related death.
The county is reporting 117 active cases and 521 total cases.
There are 394 coronavirus patients released from isolation and considered recovered.
Randolph County Health Department is reporting one COVID-19 death. That brings the number of deaths in the county to 18 overall.
The health department has 1,504 total coronavirus cases. There are 150 active cases in the county.
Currently there are 21 county residents hospitalized due to the virus.
The county is reporting 1,336 recovered residents.
Boone County reports 206 new COVID-19 cases, over 1,000 active cases for first time in December
Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 206 active cases, a 128 case increase from Tuesday. This is the second time this month there has been an increase of over 200. The first time was last Thursday when 226 cases were reported.
The dashboard is currently reporting 1,002 active cases, an increase of 85 from Tuesday. This is the first time since Nov. 30 that active cases has gone over 1,000 cases.
The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 11,493 since March.
ABC 17 News reported earlier today that two more Boone County residents died from COVID-19. This is the third and fourth deaths in the county this week.
The county has reported the total number of cases removed from isolation is 10,338, an increase of 119 recoveries.
Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services dashboard has reported the latest five-day average as 127, an inrease of 12 from Tuesday.
The dashboard is reporting the positivity rate currently sits at 36.9%.
The health department is reporting the total hospitalizations in Boone County at 150 cases, an increase of 7 from Tuesday.
The number of Boone County residents hospitalized drops by 8 to 19 .
The dashboard is reporting 35 COVID-19 patients in the ICU.
The department reports 20 patients on ventilators.
The hospital status is still currently in the 'yellow' zone.
Audrain and Montgomery County report new COVID-19 related deaths
Audrain County Health Department is reporting one COVID-19 related death. That brings a total of 25 deaths overall in the county.
According to the county's update, there are 176 active cases in the county, an increase of eight from Tuesday.
The health department is reporting nearly 90-percent of all cases are in Mexico and Vandalia. In Mexico, there are 142 cases (80.6% of all cases) and in Vandalia, there is a reported 15 cases (8.5%).
There are 1,155 total coronavirus cases since March in Audrain County, a 22 case increase from Tuesday.
The county's dashboard is reporting a 6.2% positivity rate in the county.
Currently, there are six county residents in the hospital due to the coronavirus.
The county has reported 954 recoveries.
The Montgomery County Health Department is reporting one new COVID-19 related death. The county has a total of 18 COVID-19 deaths since August 21 when the county reported its first COVID-19 death. The county has reported half of their deaths since Nov. 3.
The health department is reported 76 active cases, a five case increase from Friday.
There has been 668 total active cases in March.
The county has reported 574 COVID-19 related recoveries.
Two more deaths reported in Boone County
The Columbia/Boone County health department said two more county residents have died from COVID-19 -- the third and fourth deaths in the county this week.
The department reported the deaths on its social media accounts. Of the patients who died, one was between 65 and 69 years old and the other was older than 80.
The department released no other details about the deaths.
The pace of COVID-19 deaths has increased in Boone County and other parts of Mid-Missouri. Of the county's 34 deaths, 18 have been reported since the start of November. Boone County reported four deaths in four days last week.
Fifteen residents of Boone County nursing homes have died from COVID-19 from the start of the pandemic through Nov. 22, according to data kept by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Missouri ranks 11th among states for the number of deaths in the last seven days, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
Missouri COVID-19 hospitalizations lower, ICU admissions up
State officials say COVID-19 hospitalizations hit their lowest mark in weeks while ICU admissions have increased.
The updated information posted to the state health department's coronavirus dashboard showed 2,579 people were hospitalized because of COVID-19 on Sunday -- the most recent data available. The dashboard reported 22% of state hospital bed capacity remaining at that time.
According to the data, it's the lowest number of hospitalizations since Nov. 15. Hospitalizations had been inceasing steadily in November but have started to go down in the first full week of December.
The hospital data shows 638 were admitted to ICU beds on Sunday -- the highest number of admissions this week. Officials said 19% of the state's ICU beds were still available.
ICU admission have been at more than 600 since mid-November.
Last week, Missouri's governor announced a partnership with a Texas-based health care company, Vizient, to bring more heaalth care providers to the state and increase hospital bed capacity. Hospital have the option of bring the workers on-board if they need more help.
Hospitals in the state's central region reported 47% bed capacity and 34% of intensive care capacity remained available.
The number of new coronavirus cases reported statewide grew by 2,640 on Wednesday for a total of 330,846 since the pandemic began. The increase was about 600 fewer cases than Tuesday's number.
Missouri is 19th in the country for the number of new coronavirus cases over the past week, according to the state dashboard. The positivity rate over the past seven days dropped Wednesday to 19.1% -- the lowest level in several weeks.
The state ranks 11th for new deaths in the past week.
The Mid-Missouri counties with the highest infection rates per 100,000 people over the past week are Miller, Cole, Morgan, Callaway, Audrain and Osage counties, according to the state dashboard.
