FRIDAY UPDATES: Macon County R-1 school district to return 6-12 grade students to in class learning

Macon County R-1 Board of Education voted to return students in grades 6-12 to return to five day a week on Feb. 9.

Officials say this will allow a week to close out the hybrid schedule and prepare for students to return.

In Nov. the district went virtual learning for high school students and middle school stayed in A/B classes.

Montgomery County Health Department hosting coronavirus vaccine clinic Saturday

Montgomery County Health Department is hosting a COVID-19 vaccine clinic Saturday at Montgomery City Elementary School.

The health department reports receiving an additional 200 vaccines this week and have scheduled those vaccines to be given at this clinic.

This clinic is by appointment only. All individuals for this date have been scheduled and notified.

It is our goal to give vaccinations to all who have requested through the department.

1,600 doses given out during mass vaccination event in Mexico

Audrain County Health Department is reporting that staff on site were able to give 1,600 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a mass vaccination event at the Mexico Memorial Airport.

“It wouldn’t have been possible at all if we didn’t have the support of the County of Audrain, Audrain County Emergency Management Agency, the City of Mexico and a host of others who gave of their time and talents to make this a success,” ACHD Administrator and CEO Craig Brace said. “This was a herculean effort to pull off with only four days of planning in place around the event. I am so proud of how this community came together in order to make this event the success it turned out to be.”

Officials say five people were turned away at the initial screening of potential recipients because of not meeting the requirements of the event.

“That’s an astonishingly low number that were not able to receive the vaccine,” Brace said. “I’m happy it was such a low number because the number of vaccines we gave today equated to four Audrain County residents’ lives saved with this event.”

If you got the vaccine today, staff say you can return to the Mexico Memorial Airport on Feb. 19 to receive the second dose of the vaccine. Those will be the only ones allowed at the second vaccination clinic that day.

Boone County reports hospital returning to 'green' status

Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 57 new COVID-19 cases, a decrease of 29 cases from Thursday.

The dashboard is currently reporting 603 active cases, a decrease of 19 from Thursday.

The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 16,532.

The county has reported the total number of cases removed from isolation is 15,860, an increase of 76 from Wednesday.

Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services dashboard has reported the latest five-day average as 71.

The dashboard is reporting the positivity rate of 19.3% for Jan. 15 through Jan. 21. The latest week on the dashboard shows a 24.9% positivity rate for Jan. 22 through last Thursday.

The health department is reporting the total number of hospitalizations in Boone County is 76.

The number of Boone County residents hospitalized is reported to be 23.

The dashboard is reporting 25 COVID-19 patients in the ICU and 14 patients on ventilators.

The hospital status is still currently in the 'green' zone. Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services first debuted the color system on Nov. 10. The department said that hospitals were near capacity and staff were dealing with illness and quarantining during the pandemic.

The 'Green status' says that hospitals are "Operating within licensed bed capacity; accepting patient transfers from referring hospitals within standard care operating procedures."

According to the Missouri Vaccine Dashboard, Boone County has the largest number of people vaccinated against COVID-19 with 6,192 having received their second dose.

The dashboard also reports that 14,248 have received their first dose.

The county also has the largest percentage of people that have received at least one dose of the vaccine with 7.9%. Cole County is second with 7.3%.

State positivity rate falls just under 10%

For the first time in more than three months, Missouri's COVID-19 positivity rate fell below 10% this week.

According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services coronavirus dashboard, the state seven-day rate was down to 9.9%.

Since Oct. 12, the rate has been in the double-digits but has steadily fallen since mid-November.

The state's cumulative positivity rate, which is calculated by the number of positive cases against the total number of tests was reported at 20.5%. The cumulative rate has plateaued over the last three weeks.

Health officials reported 1,957 new COVID-19 cases on the dashboard Friday morning. The additional cases brings the pandemic total up to 456,530.

The health department also reported 14 more virus-related deaths -- bringing all COVID-19 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic to 6,739.

Missouri's vaccination dashboard said administered doses were up to 457,440 -- an increase of 57,204 from the day before.