THURSDAY UPDATES: Audrain County reports 481 people receive coronavirus vaccine during Tuesday event

The Audrain County Health Department and its partners report 481 people recieved their firstdose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Tuesday's mass vaccination event.

“We are pleased with that number,” ACHD Administrator and CEO Craig Brace said. “While some may believe it to be a low number, we are looking at it as a positive because that is telling us that other Audrain County and area residents are finding other avenues to receive their vaccines.”

“We are amazed at how seamlessly different entities in the county came together to help support our mission,” he said. “From the YMCA offering their building to a local nursing home providing lunch sandwiches for our workers, we couldn’t be more grateful. Truly, thanks to everyone involved in making these clinics as successful as they were. We couldn’t have done it without them.”

Boone County reports fifth straight day of double-digit coronavirus case increases

The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 23 new COVID-19 cases.

There are currently 102 active cases in the county.

The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 18,017.

The county has reported the total number of cases removed from isolation is 17,830.

The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services dashboard has reported the latest five-day average as 20.

The dashboard is reporting the positivity rate for March 26 through last Thursday is 7.7%.

The county continues to trend down as there have been 70 straight days of single or double-digit case increases.

The health department is reporting the total number of hospitalizations in Boone County is 20.

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

The dashboard is reporting three COVID-19 patients in the ICU and no patients 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 65,975 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 36.6%.

Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 29.3%. Saline County is third with 28.9%.

State of Missouri coronavirus dashboard adds percent of vaccine completion by county

The state of Missouri's coronavirus vaccine dashboard now allows users to see the percent of the population that has completed the necessary doses for vaccination.

The dashboard does not report which vaccine people received whether the two doses needed for Moderna or Pfizer or the one dose from the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

Atchison County has the highest percentage of the population that has completed getting the vaccine at 26.5 percent.

In Mid-Missouri, Saline County has the highest with 22.8 percent. That percentage is good for the sixth-highest in the state.

Boone County has 21.7 percent with a completed vaccine, it is the 12th highest in the state.

Camden is third with 20.9 percent vaccine completion.

Appointments remain for vaccine clinic in Columbia

The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services said Thursday afternoon that scores of appointments remain open for a coronavirus vaccination clinic this week focusing on hospitality and entertainment industry workers.

The department is holding the clinic Friday at The Blue Note in downtown Columbia. The department said at about 2:30 p.m. Thursday that about 80 slots remain open for the clinic. Anyone 18 years old or older can sign up to get a first shot of Moderna vaccine at the clinic.

Signups are available on the department's website or by calling 573-874-2489.

U.K. coronavirus variant found in Boone County

Health officials say the more-contagious variant of the coronavirus that was first identified in the United Kingdom has been found in Boone County.

The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services announced the first local positive case of the B.1.1.7 variant in a news release Thursday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the variant has become the most common strain of the novel coronavirus in the United States.

The variant was first found in Missouri in February. Evidence indicates that the variant spreads more quickly through the population.

Another well-known variant -- B.1.351, which first appeared in South Africa -- was identified this week in Jackson County, the state health department reported.

The number of new coronavirus cases in Boone County has stayed relatively low but is on the rise after bottoming out in late March. The five-day average of new daily cases dropped to five on March 31 but has risen to 15 as of Wednesday, according to the local health department dashboard.

Boone County leads the state with 36.6% of its residents getting at least the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to state numbers.

Both highest and lowest vaccination rates are mid-Missouri counties

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported more than 400 new COVID-19 cases for the second day in a row.

The department's COVID-19 dashboard added 448 new cases confirmed through PCR testing, bringing the pandemic total to 492,348.

Probable COVID-19 cases from antigen testing increased by 278 over the past 24 hours, bringing the total for the pandemic to 89,542.

State health officials reported one additional death due to COVID-19. In total, 8,510 Missourians have died because of the coronavirus.

The 7-day-positivity rate increased slightly on Thursday, sitting at 4.6 percent.

Vaccinations continued to increase, with two mid-Missouri counties seeing both the highest and lowest rates of residents initiating vaccinations.

Boone County led all 114 Missouri counties with vaccinations. As of Thursday's dashboard update, 36.6 percent of Boone County residents have initiated vaccinations.

Pulaski County was at the bottom of the statewide list, with 8.8% of residents initiating vaccinations.

Statewide, DHSS said 29.3 percent of Missourians have initiated vaccination, totaling more than 1.8 million. More than 1.1 million people have completed vaccination against COVID-19, or 18.6 percent.