TUESDAY UPDATES: Boone County active cases continue to drop; Cole County reports no new cases
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 19 new COVID-19 cases.
There are currently 93 active cases in the county, three fewer than Monday.
The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 18,172.
The county has reported the total number of cases removed from isolation is 17,994.
The county continues to trend down as there have been 82 straight days of single or double-digit case increases.
The health department is reporting four Boone County residents are in the hospital due to the coronavirus.
The State of Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard is reporting that 76,742 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 48,332 Boone County residents have completed their vaccine doses.
Boone County has the largest percentage of people in Mid-Missouri that have received at least one dose of the vaccine with 42.5%. Boone County has a reported 26.8% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses.
Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 32.1%. Saline County is third with 30.9%.
Cole County reports no new coronavirus cases.
Cole County has a total of 8,077 cases since they first reported a case.
Vaccine clinics scheduled in Audrain, Boone County
Multiple coronavirus vaccine clinics have been scheduled in Audrain and Boone counties in the ensuing days and weeks.
A release from the Audrain County Health Department said starting on Thursday county residents hoping to get a shot of Moderna's vaccine will have multiple opportunities. The health department has teamed up with the Missouri National Guard for the events.
Every week for the foreseeable future, the health department will hold a vaccine clinic from 9:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. at the health department building is located at 1130 S. Elmwood Dr. in Mexico.
The National Guard will also hold clinics inside the building -- Thursdays from 4:30-9:30 p.m. and Fridays 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.
The National Guard will also hold a remote vaccine clinic every Wednesday in one of the county's eight municipalities. Vaccinations will be available from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.
- April 28 - Martinsburg Community Room
- May 5 - Garfield Community Center
- May 12 - Laddonia First Baptist Church
- May 19 - Benton City Community Center
- May 26 - Farber Fire Department
The health department's spokesman said the events in Laddonia and Benton had not yet been finalized as of Tuesday.
The state's vaccine website said the mall will play host to another vaccination clinic next week on April 26 and 27. On both days, the events will be held from 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Also next week, MU Health Care is holding vaccination clinics at Faurot Field from 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Saturday. The website said all of the Boone County events will use the Pfizer-manufactured vaccine.
Resdients interested in receiving the vaccine are asked to use the state's vaccince navigator website.
Boone Health also announced a vaccination clinic at the Columbia Mall for Thursday. A tweet from the hosptial said the event will run from 8 a.m. - noon.
As of Tuesday, the appointment sign-up page still had 41 time slots available for the clinic.
All Missouri residents 16 and older have been eligible to receive a vaccine shot since the beginning of April.
Missouri COVID-19 positivity rate decreases as health department reports 700 new cases
The Missouri health department reported the state's COVID-19 positivity rate fell as more than 700 new coronavirus cases were reported on Tuesday.
The COVID-19 dashboard said the seven-day positivity rate fell to 4.9% on Tuesday, a 0.1% drop from the day before.
Missouri's positivity rate had fallen for months and bottomed out lower than 4.5% throughout March. Recently, the rate has increased slightly.
Health department officials reported 718 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, 534 through PCR testing and 184 through antigen testing. Since the pandemic started, more than 497,000 Missourians have had confirmed cases of coronavirus.
The increase in cases was nearly double Monday's report of 389 new cases.
The health department reported 46 virus-related deaths Monday night through the weekly check of death certificates. On Tuesday, the total count of COVID-19 fatalities was up to 8,684.
More than 2.1 million Missourians have had at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine as of Tuesday. the dashboard said 3.4 million total vaccine doses have been administered and that 1.4 million state residents have completed vaccination.
Boone County continues to lead the state with its vaccination rate. The dashboard said more than 42% of county residents have initiated vaccination -- about 76,000 people. While the county's rate for vaccinations completed was high, 26.8%, it was third in the state behind Atchison County and Joplin.
