THURSDAY UPDATES: Fulton school district to move middle school and high school to distance learning
Fulton Middle School and Fulton High School will pivot to distance learning beginning Friday.
Officials cite that change as there is an increase in the number of students and staff with positive cases and in quarantine for COVID-19 at the secondary level.
In seat classes will return with a projected date of Tuesday, Jan. 5th.
Staff will be working with students today to prepare for this transition.
Multiple mid-Missouri counties report COVID-19 related deaths
Multiple mid-Missouri counties are reporting COVID-19 related deaths as they update their dashboards.
According to the Chariton County Health Center, this is the 11 COVID-19 related death this year in the county. This is the fourth death this week reported by the health center.
The county has a report of 113 active coronavirus cases with a total of 526 cases since March.
The Randolph County Health Department is reporting two COVID-19 related deaths; bringing the total to 20 deaths since March. This makes the third death this week in the county.
The health department has a reported 1,516 total COVID-19 cases.
The county has reported 138 active cases, a drop of 12 cases from Wednesday.
The county is reporting a four case drop from 21 to 17 residents hospitalized due to the virus.
In Pettis County, the health center is reporting one COVID-19 related death in their latest update. This is the 6th death this week and 40th overall for the county.
The county currently has the second-highest active case number with 866 cases. The county is behind only Boone County's 1,006 cases.
The county has 3,705 total cases with 2,799 considered recovered.
The Morgan County Health Center is reporting the 24th COVID-19 related death.
The county currently has 95 active COVID-19 cases and 1,306 total cases.
Harry S Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital one of 37 VA's to help distribute COVID-19 vaccines
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced its preliminary plan to distribute COVID-19 vaccinations to Harry S Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital and 36 other VA hospitals once the Food and Drug Administration issues an emergency use authorization for a COVID-19 vaccine.
The 37 locations were chosen because of their ability to vaccinate large numbers of people and store the vaccines at extremely cold temperatures.
The VA will give vaccinations to VA health care workers and veterans residing in long-term care units at Truman Memorial.
“VA is well prepared and positioned to begin COVID-19 vaccinations,” said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. “Our ultimate goal is to offer it to all Veterans and employees who want to be vaccinated.”
The VA will send data directly to the CDC on all vaccine doses administered by VA.
Boone County reports new cases drop by 102; positivity rate reaches new high
Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 104 new active cases, a drop of 102 cases from Wednesday.
The dashboard is currently reporting 1,006 active cases, an increase of four from Tuesday. This is the second day in a row active cases has been above 1,000.
The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 11,597 since March.
ABC 17 News reported earlier today that one more Boone County resident died from COVID-19. This is the fifth death in the county this week.
The county has reported the total number of cases removed from isolation is 10,556, an increase of 218 recoveries.
Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services dashboard has reported the latest five-day average as 123, a decrease of four from Wednesday.
The dashboard is reporting the positivity rate currently sits at 37%.
The health department is reporting the total hospitalizations in Boone County at 140 cases, a decrease of 10.
The number of Boone County residents hospitalized is reported to be 20.
The dashboard is reporting 34 COVID-19 patients in the ICU.
The department reports 21 patients on ventilators.
The hospital status is still currently in the 'yellow' zone.
Boone County reports 5th COVID-19 death this week
The Columbia/Boone County health department reported a 5th person has died from COVID-19 this week.
It's the county's third such announcement since Monday.
A county resident between the ages of 75-79 is the latest person reported dead from the coronavirus. It makes 35 total deaths in the county since the pandemic started.
Health officials reported Wednesday a resident in the 65-69 age range and another who was at least 80 years old also died of COVID-19.
Nine residents have died from coronavirus since Nov. 30.
As of Thursday, Boone County had the sixth-highest total of COVID-19 deaths in Mid-Missouri. Cole County leads the area with 68, Camden County has the second-highest pandemic total with 52 and Miller County is third with 43.
Health departments in nine Mid-Missouri counties reported deaths on Wednesday including in Audrain, Montgomery, Chariton, Randolph, Pettis, Cole, Saline and Miller.
Missouri health officials report dozens of new COVID-19 deaths
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported dozens of new statewide COVID-19 deaths Thursday morning.
According to the department's coronavirus dashboard, 67 virus-related deaths were reported over the last 24 hours bringing the pandemic total to 4,450.
It's the largest single-day increase in COVID-19 deaths since Dec. 2 when 59 such deaths were reported.
Missouri has reported 256 pandemic-related deaths this week -- 161 of which came from the health department's weekly check of state death certificates.
Missouri also saw COVID-19 case increases hit a weekly high on Thursday with 3,858 such cases reported since Wednesday. It brings the pandemic total to 334,704.
The state's seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate fell slightly over the last day to 18.9% -- the lowest rate of transmission in weeks. The rate has been on the decline since Dec. 2.
State hospital officials said 2,641 were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Monday -- the most recent available. It's an increase of 62 from hospitalizations reported Wednesday.
The data included 650 with coronavirus were admitted to the ICU. Twelve more admissions since the last dashboard update.
