FRIDAY UPDATES: Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reminds residents to get a coronavirus vaccination

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) reminds Missourians to get a coroanvirus vaccine.

Officials say the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 is deemed highly transmissible and is projected to become dominant version worldwide and is likely already the dominant variant in Missouri after making its first confirmed entry into the state two months ago. The variant also causes more serious illness and hospitalizations among those who have not been vaccinated.

“As you gather with friends and family for Independence Day, please take adequate precautions to reduce the risk of this highly transmissible variant,” said DHSS Acting Director, Robert Knodell. “COVID-19 is now preventable due to proven success seen with the vaccines. Vaccination is our best chance at moving past the pandemic.”

The primary target for the Delta variant and other variants is unvaccinated individuals. Recent data from the United Kingdom. have shown the mRNA vaccines can be used to fight back against the Delta variant. In fact, data show that when it comes to the Delta variant specifically, the mRNA vaccines developed for COVID-19 were shown to be nearly 90% effective against symptomatic disease and 96% effective against hospitalization. The Delta variant is substantially more transmissible than what’s been seen in past months – 60% more transmissible than the Alpha variant that was first discovered in the U.K.

“The Delta variant is also impacting young people in a way that previous variants have not,” said Knodell. “It is wrong to think that only the elderly and those with compromised immune systems need the vaccination. The virus has changed since the early days of the pandemic.”

Boone County reports the fifth straight day of 35 or more new coronavirus cases

The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 37 new COVID-19 cases.

There are currently 271 active cases in the county. This is the fifth day in a row of an increase in active cases of 35 or more. This is the highest number of active cases since Feb. 9 when 304 cases were reported.

The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 19,074.

The county has reported the total number of cases removed from isolation is 18,686.

The health department's hospital status remains in yellow.

The health department is reporting five Boone County residents are in the hospital due to the coronavirus.

There are a total of 50 people hospitalized at a Boone County hospital due to the coronavirus.

The dashboard is showing 16 COVID-19 patients in the ICU and six patients on a ventilator.

The State of Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard is reporting that 91,191 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 81,542 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 50.5%. The second closest in the state is St. Louis County with 49.1%.

Boone County is first in the state with a reported 45.2% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. St. Louis County is second in the state with 43.4% of residents have completed the doses for vaccination.

Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 40.8%. Montgomery County is third with 36.9%.

During one week, 90% of Boone County cases came from residents not fully vaccinated against COVID-19

The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is seeing a majority of COVID-19 cases in people not vaccinated against the virus.

The department posted to Twitter Friday morning, saying health officials recorded 142 new cases of COVID-19 from June 21 through June 28.

"Of those cases, 128 were not fully vaccinated," the health department said in the post.

That equates to approximately 90% of the new cases during that week, meaning the remaining 10% were considered breakthrough infections.

The health department urged residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Boone County is still currently ranked No. 1 in the state for the percentage of citizens both initiating and completing vaccination, recording 50.4% and 45.1% respectively.

Boone County recorded a 27.4% COVID-19 positivity rate during the week of June 18 through June 24. This was up from 13.4% the previous week.