THURSDAY UPDATES: Boone County reports hospitalizations up due to coronavirus
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting nine new COVID-19 cases.
There are currently 59 active cases in the county.
The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 18,342.
The county has reported the total number of cases removed from isolation is 18,197.
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services dashboard has reported the latest five-day average as seven.
The county continues to trend down as there have been 98 straight days of single or double-digit case increases.
The health department is reporting the total number of hospitalizations in Boone County is 18.
The health department is reporting two Boone County residents are in the hospital due to the coronavirus.
The dashboard is reporting three COVID-19 patients in the ICU and no 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 80,642 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 63,377 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 44.7%. The second closest in the state is St. Louis County with 40.8%.
Boone County is now first in the state with a reported 35.1% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. Atchison County is second in the state with 33.9% of residents have completed the doses for vaccination.
Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 35.8%. Montgomery County is third with 32.4%.
Missouri to scale back National Guard COVID-19 vaccine support
Gov. Parson announced the reduction of the Missouri National Guard involvement at mass vaccination site locations beginning this month and to be completed by June 1 in a press release Thursday afternoon.
“We are in a far different situation today than we were just a couple months ago. In the beginning, vaccine demand far outweighed vaccine supply. Now, we are seeing the reverse of that, and the need for large scale vaccination events has lessened,” Governor Parson said. “Missouri is in a good place on the vaccine front, and that is thanks in large part to the tireless efforts of our National Guard members to get vaccines into the arms of Missourians. We couldn't be more thankful for the hard work of these dedicated men and women over the past several months.”
Officials report that vaccination teams from the state have given more than 382,000 vaccines, nearly 10 percent of total vaccines administered across the state.
MONG team members will continue the work in St. Louis and Kansas City sites and assist in staffing the Department of Health and Senior Services' COVID-19 Hotline and provide support for Missouri food banks and food pantries.
The state does not plan to cancel any currently scheduled state-supported vaccination events in May.
According to the governor's release, 80 percent of Missourians have access to a COVID-19 vaccine within a five mile radius of where they reside.
“Vaccines are readily available all across the state, and Missourians can often walk right into their local pharmacy and receive a shot. With universal vaccine availability and decreased interest at our mass vaccination events, scaling back our state-supported teams is the right decision for the most efficient use of our resources,” Governor Parson said. “We will continue to educate Missourians on the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine so that those who have not yet chosen to be vaccinated may join the millions of other Missourians who have.”
State coronavirus vaccination percentage increase slows to a crawl
The percentage of Missourians who have gotten at least one coronavirus vaccine shot is still going up, but just barely.
The percentage went up from 38% on Wednesday to 38.1% on Thursday. The small increase is a sign of the continuing slowdown in the state's coronavirus vaccination program. About 2.3 million Missourians have gotten at least one dose of vaccine, according to the state's coronavirus dashboard.
Missouri's population is about 6 million.
The number of shots given out daily continues to fall after it hit a peak in early April. The seven-day average of daily shots given was about 21,000 on Thursday, which is less than half what it was at the height of the program last month.
Nearly 45% of Boone County residents have started their vaccination process, the highest number in the state.
The state reported 385 new coronavirus cases through PCR testing Thursday for a total of 504,454 since the pandemic began. Missouri reported another 244 positive antigen tests, which are considered probable cases but not confirmed. The state reported three new deaths for a total of 8,821.
New cases are down about 5% over the past week compared to the week before, according to the state's coronavirus dashboard.
