THURSDAY UPDATES: Boone County reports 71st COVID-19 related death; 8th day in a row of double digit new COVID-19 cases

Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting the 71st COVID-19 related death.

This is the second death this month and 13 this year. The individual was in the 80+ age group.

The county is reporting 33 new COVID-19 cases.

The dashboard is currently reporting 421 active cases, a 47 case decrease from Wednesday.

The county continues to trend down as there has now been eight straight days of only double digit case increases. The last time this occurred was Oct. 26.

The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 16,818.

The county has reported the total number of cases removed from isolation is 16,326, an increase of 79 from Wednesday.

Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services dashboard has reported the latest five-day average as 42. This is the lowest the five-day average has been since Oct. 22.

The dashboard is reporting the positivity rate of 25.5% positivity rate for Jan. 22 through last Thursday.

The health department is reporting the total number of hospitalizations in Boone County is 62.

The number of Boone County residents hospitalized is reported to be 16.

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

The hospital status has moved back into the 'yellow' zone. 'Yellow status' says hospitals are operating within standard capacity and meeting any of the following criteria:

• Delaying non-emergency patient transfers from referring hospitals due to capacity for greater than two (2) days, or
• Delaying non-emergency patient transfers from referring hospitals due to staffing for greater than two (2) consecutive days, or
• Delaying non-urgent procedures and operations to provide additional inpatient capacity

According to the Missouri Vaccine Dashboard, Boone County has the largest number of people vaccinated against the coronavirus with 7,110 having received their second dose. Boone County residents with a second dose make-up more than half of all Mid-Missouri that have a second dose.

The dashboard also reports that 16,803 have received their first dose.

The county has the fourth largest percentage of people that have received at least one dose of the vaccine with 9.3%. Pettis County has the largest with 10.3% of the population have received the first dose of the vaccine. Cole County is second with 10.2% and Cooper County has 9.7%.

Osage Beach to host coronavirus vaccination clinic

Hospital officials with Lake Regional Health System say Osage Beach will host a mass vaccination clinic next weekend.

A release from the hospital said the event is scheduled to be held on Feb. 14 at the School of the Osage. At least 2,400 people will be able to receive a shot, organizers said. The release said area residents signed onto waitlists through Lake Regional and county health departments in January.

Organizers have already started contacting people on the waitlists for vaccine appointments, the release said.

The Pfizer vaccine will be used at the event. Residents are asked to arrive at the vaccination clinic at least 15 minutes before their appointment.

The hospital partnered with the Missouri National Guard, Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, lake area county health departments and other local agencies to put on the event.

The event will be held indoors, unlike some recent vaccination events. Walk-ins will not be allowed to receive a vaccine, the release said.

Missouri continues coronavirus vaccinations

Missouri health officials continue to vaccinate state residents against the coronavirus.

The state's vaccination dashboard said 584,260 doses have been administered across the state as of Thursday morning. It included 452,060 people have received at least one dose.

Vaccination clinics are being held across the state this weekend to increase that number. In Columbia, MU Health Care opened a clinic at Faurot Field. Health officials say 4,000 people will be vaccinated. The Cole County Health Department is also holding a clinic on Friday at the Linc.

The state recently reallocated some vaccine doses that were originally intended for long-term care facilities.

Health department officials reported 1,399 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday. It brings the state's pandemic total up to 463,119.

Despite the increase in cases, the state's COVID-19 positivity rate was unchanged. The dashboard said the seven-day rate stayed at 9.3%.

The state health department included 19 more virus-related deaths on the dashboard -- 7.,117 such deaths have been reported since the pandemic started.

Missouri ranked in the bottom half of the nation for weekly cases and deaths. The dashboard said the state was 27th in the US for new cases in the last week -- 7,185. Missouri was also 28th for new COVID-19 deaths in the same time -- 46.

Coronavirus hospitalizations and ICU admissions continue to fall. State hospital officials said on the dashboard that 1,680 were in the hospital because of COVID-19 and 386 were admitted to the ICU.