TUESDAY UPDATES: Boone County reports lowest positivity rate since August

Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 15 new COVID-19 cases.

The health department is currently reporting 93 active cases.

The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 17,461.

The county has reported the total number of cases removed from isolation is 17,289.

Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services dashboard has reported the latest five-day average as 10.

The dashboard is reporting the positivity rate of 11.8% for the week of Feb. 19 through last Thursday.

The county continues to trend down as there have been 34 straight days of single or double-digit case increases. It is also the 25th 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 7.

The dashboard is reporting 10 COVID-19 patients in the ICU and five patients on ventilators.

The hospital status remains 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 32,466 residents have received their first dose in Boone County.

The county has the third-largest percentage of people that have received at least one dose of the vaccine with 18%.

Saline County has the largest with 18.6% of the population have received the first dose of the vaccine. Howard County is second with 18.2% and Cole County is fourth with 17.4%.

Audrain County revises COVID-19 report

The Audrain County Health Department revised its count of virus-related deaths and recovered COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.

A release from the department said the numbers were updated because of a discrepancy with the state health department.

According to the release, the health department reported four additional deaths and decreased its report of recovered cases by the same amount. Since the pandemic started, the health department has reported 57 deaths and 1,619 COVID-19 recoveries.

The release said the numbers are updated occasionally for multiple reasons. Health officials say pandemic reports can be revised to match state and federal data.

Additionally, the health department said deaths can be added to the total when death certificate information is given to the state but isn't immediately sent out locally.

The release included that 1,683 positive coronavirus cases have been reported in the county. As of Tuesday, there were seven active cases.

Missouri reports second-lowest weekly case rate in the U.S.

The Show-Me State had the second-lowest weekly new case rate in the country on Tuesday.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services coronavirus dashboard said the state was 49th out of 50 for new cases per capita reported over the week ending on Saturday. Department officials said 2,425 positive COVID-19 cases were reported, which equals 40 cases per 100,000 residents.

Data included that Missouri was 31st in the nation for the total number of cases reported, also 2,425.

Missouri reported the 18th highest total number of deaths and per capita deaths, 19, over the same time period. The number of deaths works out to 0.3 per 100,000 Missourians.

The COVID-19 positivity rate has been falling for about three months and continues to fall. On Tuesday, the seven-day rate fell to 4.6% a decrease of 0.2 from the day before.

Health officials reported 266 new COVID-19 cases and 12 more virus-related deaths Tuesday morning. Since the pandemic started, the health department has reported 478,682 confirmed cases and 7,932 deaths.

The department reported more than 1.3 million total vaccine doses have been administered in Missouri. The dashboard included 14.2% of the state's population -- about 869,000 residents -- has received at least one dose of vaccine.

State and Cooper County health officials held the second day of a vaccination clinic at the Isle of Capri Casino on Tuesday. The goal was to vaccinate 2,000 people.