THURSDAY UPDATES: Boone County Sheriff’s office reports 14 inmates test positive for COVID-19
More than a dozen inmates at the Boone County Jail have tested positive for COVID-19.
The Boone County Sheriff's office says it has tested more than 120 people after learning about a positive case on Sunday.
The department says that 13 out of 19 close contacts tested positive and a 14th tested positive after another round of testing detainees.
Officials say most of the people are asymptomatic.
Capt. Brian Leer said medical staff at the Boone County Jail are work with officials on housing decisions for those who need to be quarantined and/or isolated due to being positive or due to being identified as close contacts.
Capt. Leer says, "Temperature checks are being conducted daily, PPE is being used, and we have stepped up sanitization throughout the pandemic."
Officials say staff who test positive for COVID-19 are not allowed to return to the jail until they recover.
13 COVID-19 related deaths reported across mid-Missouri
Five mid-Missouri counties are reporting 13 COVID-19 related deaths.
Cooper, Audrain, Camden, Randolph and Maries Counties are each reporting at least one new COVID-19 death Thursday.
In Cooper County, the health center is reporting one death, raising the total to 16. The health center last updated its statistics on Dec. 30.
The county has a total of 1,565 cases and 60 of them are reported to be active.
In Audrain County, the health department is reporting two deaths today, bringing a total number of deaths to 43. This is the seventh death reported since the new year.
The county is reporting 1,555 total cases with 126 of them being active. Seven county residents remain hospitalized due to the virus.
Camden County Health Department is reporting seven new deaths nearly a month since they last updated their data. The department is reporting 65 total deaths.
In the county, there are 3,492 total cases and 453 active cases.
Randolph County Health Department is reporting their second death this week, bringing the total to 27 overall.
The county has reported 1,788 total cases and 79 active cases. Ten residents are currently hospitalized due to COVID-19.
The Phelps-Maries County Health Department is reporting two COVID-19 related deaths today. This the 14th and 15 COVID-19 deaths in Maries County since Nov. 2.
The department has reported 688 total cases in the county and 45 of them are reported to be active.
Boone County reports record high positivity rate
Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 147 new COVID-19 cases for Wednesday, a 24 case decrease from Wednesday.
The dashboard is currently reporting 869 active cases, an increase of 62 cases from Wednesday.
The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 14,613.
The county has reported the total number of cases removed from isolation is 13,684, an increase of 85 from Tuesday.
Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services dashboard has reported the latest five-day average as 126.
The dashboard is reporting the positivity rate of 37.4% for Dec. 25 through last Thursday. This rate is the highest rate and .3% higher than the previous record of 37.1 during the week of Nov. 27 through Dec. 3.
The health department is reporting the total hospitalizations in Boone County at 108 cases.
The number of Boone County residents hospitalized is reported to be 29.
The dashboard is reporting 23 COVID-19 patients in the ICU and 12 patients on ventilators.
The hospital status is still currently in the 'yellow' zone.
Mexico hospital relaxes some COVID-19 visitor policies
SSM St. Mary's Hospital in Mexico has relaxed some visitor policies put in place because of the pandemic. The changes go into effect on Monday.
A release sent out from the hospital's spokeswoman Jessica Royston said all patients who are not coronavirus positive will be allowed to have a support person at a time. Hospital officials said the support person must be older than 16 and can only stay during designated hours -- 8 a.m.-8 p.m.
All visitors must enter through the emergency room, undergo a COVID-19 screening, wear a face mask when inside the facility, stay in the patient's room or designated area and follow hand washing and social distancing guidelines, the release said.
Hospital officials said they will continue to monitor the spread of COVID-19 in the community and make adjustments as necessary.
As of Wednesday, the Audrain County Health Department had confirmed 1,547 coronavirus cases in the community since the start of the pandemic. It includes 135 active cases and 41 virus-related deaths.
State positivity rate continues to increase, now over 20%
State health officials say Missouri's COVID-19 positivity rate has increased higher indicating that the coronavirus is still widespread.
The health department's coronavirus dashboard included nearly 4,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported Thursday morning.
On Thursday morning, the health department said the seven-day coronavirus positivity rate went up to 20.5% -- up 0.8% from Wednesday's dashboard update. According to the CDC, any rate over 10 indicates widespread COVID-19.
Missouri's positivity rate has been over 10% for nearly three months -- since Oct. 12.
The dashboard said Pemiscot County had the highest positivity rate over the entire pandemic at 24%. It included Oregon County had the highest rate over the last seven days at 52.7% -- the highest rate by more than 10 percent.
Total coronavirus positive cases in Missouri topped out at 412,426 on Thursday -- 3,983 more cases since Wednesday. It's the highest daily increase this week and the second-highest since 2021 started. The health department 4,729 new cases on New Year's Day.
Health officials also reported 24 new virus-related deaths. It brings the pandemic total up to 5,882.
The dashboard said Missouri ranked 15th in the US for new COVID-19 deaths over the last week and 20th for new cases over the same period. For the week ending on Monday, the state reported 17,270 cases and 70 deaths.
State hospital officials said coronavirus hospitalizations and ICU admissions have remained high for another day. According to the dashboard, 2,784 were hospitalized and 636 were in ICU beds because of COVID-19. Both numbers were slightly higher than what was reported the day before.
Millions of Americans still waiting on second stimulus check
If you haven't received your second stimulus check, you may be among millions of Americans who are also waiting for the $600 payment.
Congress approved the direct payment to US residents and President Trump signed off on the bill in late 2020. The government said at the time, checks would start going out immediately.
Weeks later, some online tax preparers like H&R Block reported many stimulus payments were deposited in the wrong account.
TurboTax went as far as to say an IRS error was delaying the process.
"Millions of people, including many TurboTax customers, haven’t received their second stimulus payment due to an IRS error. We’re working tirelessly with the IRS to get you your money within days," the wesbsite said.
Company officials included in a blog post published on Wednesday that employees have "Re-confirmed with the IRS that they have all of the correct banking information for customers." TurboTax included it will continue to update customers until they receive their money.
The IRS said on its website on Dec. 29, that the payments would be automatically deposited in a person's bank account and, "Some Americans may see the direct deposit payments as pending or as provisional payments in their accounts before the official payment date of Jan. 4, 2021."
The federal agency included on its website that if you are eligible to receive the stimulus check but still haven't received it you can claim a recovery rebate credit the next time you file taxes.
