WEDNESDAY UPDATES: Boone County coronavirus active cases remain below 100
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 14 new COVID-19 cases.
There are currently 98 active cases in the county.
The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 18,277.
The county has reported the total number of cases removed from isolation is 18,093, a 14 case increase from Monday.
The county continues to trend down as there have been 90 straight days of single or double-digit case increases.
The health department is reporting one Boone County resident is in the hospital due to the coronavirus.
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports that 78,608 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 58,937 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 43.6%. The second closest in the state is St. Louis County with 39.6%.
Boone County has a reported 32.7% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses, good for second in the state. Boone County is behind Atchison County with 33% having completed the the doses for vaccination.
Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 34.1%. Montgomery County is third with 31.7%.
Boone Health to allow more visitors as coronavirus cases drop
Boone Health said Wednesday that it is easing its visitor restrictions as the percentage of coronavirus tests turning up positive drops.
Boone will now allow patients who are not COVID-19-positive to have two visitors each day, as long as the visitors are over 16 years old, wear masks and keep social distance, according to a news release. The release cites improvements to the 14-day positivity rate -- the percentage of coronavirus tests that get a positive result.
Information on Boone County's positivity rate for the past two weeks was not available on the local health department's public dashboard Wednesday morning. The state health department reported a 4.6% statewide positivity rate for the last seven days, down slightly from the number reported Tuesday.
Boone Medical Group will also allow two visitors per patient, according to the release.
Missouri adds more than 500 confirmed cases of COVID-19
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported 514 additional COVID-19 cases confirmed through PCR tests. The addition brings Missouri's pandemic total of confirmed cases to 500,585.
State health officials also reported 277 new probable cases discovered through antigen testing, bringing the total to 82,689.
Missouri's seven-day positivity rate dropped slightly Wednesday, now sitting at 4.6%.
Five more Missourians died due to COVID-19. Since the pandemic started, there have been 8,737 deaths due to the virus in the state.
Meanwhile, the Show-Me State is nearing 40% of residents starting the vaccination process. As of Wednesday morning, more than 2.2 million people have initiated vaccination against COVID-19, or 37.1% of the population. The population completing vaccinations also increased slightly to 26.9%.
