FRIDAY UPDATES: Boone County uses 1,802 out of 2,300 vaccine doses during today’s event
Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services reported giving 1,802 coroanvirus vaccine doses to eligible residents from throughout the state at today's event.
There are 498 doses left from today's allotment and will be used for individuals who are homebound or the doses will be redistributed to local vaccinators in Boone County.
Sara Humm with the Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services says there were a large number of people that no-showed their appointment today.
The organization asks that if folks sign up at multiple locations that they please be sure to cancel any unneeded appointments ahead of time.
Boone County opening vaccine appointments Monday
Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services is opening appointments for the coronavirus vaccine Monday at 8 a.m. Appointments are required and only for those who are eligible and live or work in Boone County.
Initial appointments will be available to schedule for Monday, March 15 through Saturday, March 20. Moving forward, any appointment links will be available on the CoMo.gov/CovidVaccine site as doses are available.
Residents in Phase 1A; Phase 1B, Tier 1; Phase 1B, Tier 2; and Phase 1B, Tier 3 will be eligible for vaccination. March 15 is the first day that Tier 3 is eligible for vaccination.
The best way to schedule an appointment is through the website, however, anyone who is having trouble accessing the website can call the Contact Center at 573.874.CITY (2489).
Boone County over 40,000 residents vaccinated with first dose of coronavirus vaccine
Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 22 new COVID-19 cases. Active cases in the county has dropped back below triple digits to 99.
The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 17,657.
The county has reported the total number of cases removed from isolation is 17,476.
Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services dashboard has reported the latest five-day average as 27.
The dashboard is reporting the positivity rate of 10.2% for the week of Feb. 26 through March 4. The new positivity rate posted is 10.7 for the week of March 4 through last Thursday.
The county continues to trend down as there have been 44 straight days of single or double-digit case increases.
The health department is reporting the total number of hospitalizations in Boone County is 23.
The number of Boone County residents hospitalized is reported to be four.
The dashboard is reporting six COVID-19 patients in the ICU and three 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 40,870 residents have received their first dose in Boone County.
The county has the largest percentage of people in Mid-Missouri that have received at least one dose of the vaccine with 22.6%.
Cole County has the second largest with 20.5% of the population have received the first dose of the vaccine. Howard County has the third-highest percentage at 20.3%.
SSM St. Mary's in Jefferson City further relaxes visitor restrictions
A consistent dip in new COVID-19 cases has allowed SSM St. Mary's Hospital in Jefferson City to further relax pandemic restrictions.
The hospital and others in Mid-Missouri have been rolling back visitor restrictions recently.
As of Friday, non-coronavirus positive patients are allowed to have two visitors per day, according to a release from the hospital.
Officials included that coronavirus-positive patients are allowed to have one visitor upon hospital approval.
The hospital said all visitors must be older than 16, wear a mask at all times, pass a COVID-19 screening, stay in the patient's room or waiting area and visit during allowed times. Pediatric patients are allowed to have one visitor stay overnight.
New COVID-19 cases have fallen in Cole County recently. In the latest data available, the health department had only reported 11 new cases in the last week. Health officials have reported 7,677 cases in the county since the pandemic started.
The hospital announced earlier in the week that its drive-thru COVID-19 testing site would close after Friday. A release said a steady decline in testing and new cases forced the site to close.
Missouri health department reports 500 new COVID-19 cases
For just the second this month, health officials reported more than 500 new COVID-19 cases on the state coronavirus dashboard.
Since the pandemic started, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has reported 482,732 COVID-19 positive cases through PCR testing. It's an increase of 508 from the day before.
Reports of new COVID-19 cases have fallen in recent months. The highest number of new cases reported in March came in at 530 on Thursday.
Four-digit daily case reports were common in Missouri over the fall and winter and into early February. Since Feb. 11, the state has not seen a new case addition come in over 1,000.
State health officials have reported 82,385 probable coronavirus cases through antigen testing. The dashboard says 953,751 such tests have been administered since the pandemic started.
Missouri's seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate fell by 0.1 to 4.4% in Friday's dashboard update. The positivity has mostly fallen since early January with the rate coming in well below the mark for widespread COVID-19 for weeks.
The dashboard said vaccinations continue to climb. As of Friday, 1.7 million total vaccine doses have been administered with 1.12 million Missourians initiating vaccination. Health officials say a little more than 600,000 state residents have completed vaccination.
Multiple vaccine events were scheduled in Boone County on Friday with the National Guard holding one at the Columbia Sports Fieldhouse and the VA holding another in Centralia.
