Columbia officials concerned about increasing COVID-19 cases, no plans for new health order
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Columbia/Boone County Public Health Department says the rise in COVID-19 cases in Columbia is concerning however currently, there are no plans in place for a new health order.
According to Boone County's COVID-19 Dashboard, the five-day average for new cases jumped to 30.6 on Monday, the highest that number has been since Feb. 7. For the week ending June 24, Boone County's positivity rate sits at 27.1, the highest that number has been since the week ending on Jan. 14.
In Boone County, 45 patients are currently hospitalized with COVID-19. Of those, however, only three are Boone County residents. Sara Humm, a spokesperson for Columbia/Boone County Public Health, says this may be a good sign for Columbia, with residents contracting COVID-19 possibly seeing weaker symptoms.
Humm says the department will continue to monitor key data points while deciding what's appropriate for the city. She says they're the same data points the health department looked at while health orders were in place. These data points include:
- New positive cases
- Hospitalizations
- Hospital status
- Contact tracing
Humm said contact tracers in Columbia have been overloaded as of late, with new cases having more contacts to trace. The health department has asked people who test positive in Boone County to reach out to anyone they may have been in close contact with.
