WEDNESDAY UPDATES: Three Mid-Missouri counties return to White House ‘red zone’ report

The latest White House state profile shows that cases are on a steady rise in parts of Missouri.

Last week Missouri's health department reported more than 4,378 new cases, which is up 31-percent from the week prior.

Three mid-Missouri counties have also returned to the red zone for community transmission that includes Gasconade, Montgomery and Osage counties.

Boone, Callaway and Audrain counties are also now in the orange zone.

All mid-Missouri counties are currently in one of the three transmission zones.

Boone County active coronavirus cases drops for seventh day in a row

The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 6 new COVID-19 cases. There are currently 70 active cases in the county.

The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 17,812.

The county has reported the total number of cases removed from isolation is 17,658, an increase of 10 from Tuesday.

The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services dashboard has reported the latest five-day average as 9.

The dashboard is reporting the positivity rate of 11.9% for March 12 through last Thursday.

The county continues to trend down as there have been 55 straight days of single or double-digit case increases.

The health department is reporting the total number of hospitalizations in Boone County is 25.

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

The dashboard is reporting six COVID-19 patients in the ICU and one patient on a ventilator.

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 50,954 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 28.2%.

MU tells all employees to return to work

The University of Missouri is telling all its employees to return to work by May 17.

MU Chancellor Mun Choi announced the directive in an email to campus Wednesday. An MU spokesman said a number of employees working remotely was not available.

The email highlighted the fact that all university employees will become eligible for the coronavirus vaccine Monday as part of the state's vaccine plan. Many MU employees have been working from off-campus since last March when the coronavirus pandemic began.

The university said it will maintain its coronavirus protocols such as social distancing and masks even after everyone returns to campus.

MU reported eight active student cases on Tuesday. That number peaked at 683 on Sept. 5. Cases are staying low throughout Boone County. Those lower levels led the county's health director to get rid of some restrictions on business this week though masks and social distancing are still required.

The state reports 28.2% of Boone County residents have received at least a first dose of coronavirus vaccine.

1.4 million Missourians initiate coronavirus vaccination

Missouri's state health department said more than 1.4 million state residents have initiated coronavirus vaccination as of Wednesday.

The data updated Wednesday morning said 23% of the state's population has received at least one dose of a two-dose vaccine or the Johnson & Johnson single-dose shot.

More than 2.1 million vaccine doses have been administered in the state and 771,000 Missourians have completed vaccination, the dashboard said.

Health department officials said 55% of state residents 65 and older have initiated vaccination. The department included that nearly 31% of residents 55-64 years old have started vaccination.

The state has scheduled mass vaccination clinics through the first half of April. Gov. Mike Parson said last week up to 18,000 St. Louis area residents could get vaccinated with multiple events planned this week.

Missouri activiated teachers and more than 550,000 other state residents for vaccination last week.

Parson also announced the activation of phases 2 and 3 of the state vaccination plan. Phase 2, which includes higher education, government workers and more will become vaccine-eligible next week. Phase 3 includes all Missourians and will be activated on April 9.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Missouri's vaccination rate was higher than only two neighboring states, Oklahoma and Tennessee. The same data said Kentucky, Nebraska, Illinois and Iowa were all administering more than 40,000 vaccine doses per 100,000 state residents.

The dashboard reported 392 new COVID-19 cases through PCR testing bringing the pandemic total up to 486,917. Department officials also reported five more virus-related deaths, 8,434 have been reported since the pandemic started.

Missouri's seven-day positivity rate was unchanged at 4% on Wednesday.