FRIDAY UPDATES: Boone County active coronavirus cases and hospitalizations drop

The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 42 new COVID-19 cases.

There are currently 349 active cases in the county, a decrease of nine from Thursday.

The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 19,383.

The county has reported the total number of cases removed from isolation is 18,916.

The health department's hospital status remains in yellow.

The health department is reporting 12 Boone County residents are in the hospital due to the coronavirus.

There are a total of 64 people hospitalized at a Boone County hospital due to the coronavirus a decrease of two from Thursday.

The dashboard is showing 25 COVID-19 patients in the ICU and eight patients on a ventilator.

The State of Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard is reporting that 92,060 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 82,268 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 51%. The second closest in the state is St. Louis County with 49.6%.

Boone County is first in the state with a reported 45.6% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. St. Louis County is second in the state with 43.8% of residents have completed the doses for vaccination.

Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 41.4%. Montgomery County is third with 37.3%.

Cole County reports 23 new coronavirus cases; two new coronavirus-related deaths

The Cole County Health Department is reporting two new coronavirus-related deaths. The two residential deaths raise the death count in the county to 126 total, the most in Mid-Missouri; 56 of the deaths were from long-term care facilities.

The county is also reporting 23 new coronavirus cases. This makes 96 new coronavirus cases in the past three days.

According to the dashboard update, there have been 8,236 resident cases and 270 long-term care facility resident cases.

Columbia Public Schools changes COVID-19 protocols for summer school

UPDATE 1 p.m.: Columbia Public Schools notified parents about changes to its COVID-19 protocols for the rest of summer school, citing a rise in coronavirus cases.

According to a letter sent to families, students 11-years-old and younger will be required to wear a mask inside and on buses. Students will not need to wear masks outdoors. District leaders say that they still strongly encourage all students to wear masks while inside school buildings.

The changes are set to go into effect Monday. The district's new policies align with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Leaders also said that quarantine is not required for people who are fully vaccinated who have no symptoms. A person is considered fully vaccinated if it has been two weeks since the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or if it has been two weeks since the single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The district also said that quarantine is not required if a person exposed to the coronavirus was wearing a mask indoors and has no symptoms. The district plans to continue with a 10-day quarantine for people who were exposed to the virus. A seven-day quarantine is required if the person received a negative PCR test between days five and seven and has no symptoms. That person must also wear a mask through day 14.

The changes to contact tracing and quarantine protocols start immediately.

According to the letter, the district will continue to monitor the coronavirus and other variants and will re-evaluate protocols as needed. The district says it will update parents before the start of school in the fall.

ORIGINAL: According to the latest data from the state health dashboard, 1,118 hospitalized patients were being treated for COVID-19 in Missouri on Tuesday.

The confirmed data is on a two-day delay, but preliminary numbers from Thursday showed as many as 1,156 were hospitalized due to the virus.

The increase in hospitalizations comes as the seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate dropped slightly, now sitting at 11.9%.

Missouri health officials also recorded an additional 1,544 confirmed cases of the virus, bringing the state's pandemic total to 532,670.

Six additional deaths were added to the dashboard Friday morning. In total, 9,383 Missourians have died due to COVID-19.