THURSDAY UPDATES: Three Mid-Missouri counties report COVID-19 related deaths

Three Mid-Missouri counties reported eight COVID-19 related deaths in their latest dashboard updates.

Callaway County Health Department reported four new deaths, bringing the total number of deaths since April 4 to 44. It is the fifth death this month and 14th since Jan. 1.

The county has reported 3,859 coronavirus cases and 72 residents currently are infected.

Missouri COVID-19 Vaccine dashboard is reporting 5,675 Callaway County residents have received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

Miller County Health Center reported one new death, bringing the total number of deaths since Aug. 4 to 55. It is the fifth death this month and seventh since Jan. 1.

The county has reported 2,423 coronavirus cases and eight residents are considered active cases.

Missouri COVID-19 Vaccine dashboard is reporting 2,160 Miller County residents have received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine. The county has the lowest county percentage of Mid-Missouri residents receiving their first coronavirus vaccine dose at 8.4-percent.

Camden County Health Department reported three new deaths, bringing the total number of deaths since March 27 to 75. It is the 10th death this month and 16th since Jan. 1.

The health department is reporting 3,907 total cases and 236 active cases.

Missouri COVID-19 Vaccine dashboard is reporting 6,157 Camden County residents have received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

Boone County reports lowest number of active cases since July 2

Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 27 new COVID-19 cases.

The health department is currently reporting 146 active cases, a 22 case decrease from Wednesday.

The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 17,410.

The county has reported the total number of cases removed from isolation is 17,188, a 49 case increase from Tuesday.

Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services dashboard has reported the latest five-day average as 23.

The dashboard is reporting the positivity rate of 17.5 for the week of Feb. 12 through last Thursday.

The county continues to trend down as there have been 29 straight days of only double-digit case increases. It is also the 20th day in a row of new cases under 50.

The health department is reporting the total number of hospitalizations in Boone County is 26.

The number of Boone County residents hospitalized is reported to be 8.

The dashboard is reporting 9 COVID-19 patients in the ICU and 5 patients on ventilators.

The hospital status is currently in 'Green' status. 'Green' status is when hospitals are operating within licensed bed capacity; accepting patient transfers from referring hospitals within standard care operating procedures.

The State of Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard is reporting that 26,300 residents have received their first dose in Boone County.

The county has the fourth-largest percentage of people that have received at least one dose of the vaccine with 14.1%.

Saline County has the largest with 18% of the population have received the first dose of the vaccine. Montgomery County is second with 16% and Cole County is third with 15%.

New coronavirus cases slightly higher, still fewer than 1,000

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said new COVID-19 positive cases on Thursday were the highest this week, however, the increase was still fewer than 1,000.

The state dashboard said a daily increase of 727 brought the total number of pandemic COVID-19 cases up to 477,078.

Health officials have reported 3,095 new coronavirus cases over the week ending on Monday. The average daily increase over that time was 442.

Before February, four-digit COVID-19 case increases were commonplace but have mostly dropped off.

The state positivity rate has also been on the decline with fewer cases being added to the dashboard. The latest data available said the seven-day positivity rate was down to 6.1%. July 1 was the last time the health department reported the rate being as low.

Health officials calculate the rate by dividing the number of positive COVID-19 tests over the last seven days by the total number of coronavirus tests over the same time period.

The health department reported eight more virus-related deaths bringing the pandemic total up to 7,902.

Missouri ranked 30th in the country for new coronavirus cases over the last week and 15th for coronavirus deaths over the same period, the dashboard said.

Vaccinations increased higher on Thursday. The health department said 1.12 million total vaccine doses have been administered in the state.

The data included the number of people who have received at least vaccine dose was reported at 756,334, an increase of 29,967. Additionally, 373,082 have now received two doses, 14,921 more since Wednesday.

Missouri was able to reschedule vaccine clinics that were postponed last week because of dangerously cold weather. Clinics were being held in Columbia and Mexico on Thursday.