WEDNESDAY UPDATES: Boone County reports active coronavirus cases remains below 50
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 11 new COVID-19 cases.
There are currently 49 active cases in the county, an eight case increase from tuesday.
The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 18,443.
The county has reported the total number of cases removed from isolation is 18,278.
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services dashboard has reported the latest five-day average as 1.8.
The health department is reporting the total number of hospitalizations in Boone County is 11.
The health department is reporting one Boone County resident is in the hospital due to the coronavirus.
The dashboard is showing four COVID-19 patients in the ICU and three 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 84,052 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 71,826 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 46.6%. The second closest in the state is St. Louis County with 43.5%.
Boone County is first in the state with a reported 39.8% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. Atchison County is second in the state with 6.2% of residents have completed the doses for vaccination.
Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 37.2%. Montgomery County is third with 33.4%.
Boone County health officials link 25 additional deaths to COVID-19
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services reported an additional 25 deaths due to COVID-19, pushing the county's death toll throughout the pandemic to 116.
The additional deaths occurred between November 2020 and April 2021, but they had not previously been recorded. According to a news release, the deaths were added after reconciling data.
"We are sad to learn of additional lives lost due to this virus that has impacted the community for more than a year," PHHS Director Stephanie Browning said in the news release. "Our thoughts are with the friends and family members of those who died from COVID-19."
Health officials said a majority of the deaths were individuals who were at least 80 years old. The youngest age was 55.
PHHS said it will add the 25 additional deaths to the Information Hub on Wednesday afternoon.
40% of Missourians have at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine
The state health dashboard showed 40% of Missouri's population initiated the coronavirus vaccination process as of Wednesday, equating to 2,457,442 people in the state.
More than 2 million people in the Show-Me State are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with 33.2% of residents completing vaccination.
As the number of vaccinated individuals continues to increase slightly each day, the seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate remained at 3.7% Wednesday.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported an additional 266 confirmed cases of the virus, bringing the total number of cases discovered through PCR testing to 508,205.
Health officials also recorded 192 more probable cases of the virus. Through antigen testing, a total of 86,109 probable cases have been recorded throughout the pandemic.
Six additional deaths were added to the state health dashboard Wednesday. Since the pandemic first hit Missouri, DHSS has linked 8,996 total deaths to COVID-19.
