TUESDAY UPDATES: Boone County records 100-plus coronavirus cases for second straight day

Health officials in Boone County reported more than 100 new coronavirus cases Tuesday -- the second day in a row that number hit triple digits.

The Columbia/Boone County Health Department reported 101 new cases Tuesday for a total of 19,615 since the pandemic began. The number of active cases vaulted to 427. The county reported 111 cases Monday.

The county's five-day average of new daily cases hit 34.2 on Tuesday -- a level not seen since early February.

The spike in new cases in Boone County and beyond over the past few weeks has fueled a jump in the number of people in hospitals here with COVID-19. The number of COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals hit 90 on Tuesday, with 38 of them in intensive care.

Hospitals remained on yellow status, meaning some transfers and non-emergency procedures are being delayed.

The county health department warned Tuesday that the growth in new cases means contact tracers can no longer keep up. Contact tracers can handle about 30 cases per day, the department said on social media. With new case numbers as high as they are now, some people who test positive might not hear from a contact tracer, the department said.

Those who can't be called will receive a packet in the mail about isolation and quarantine procedures.

MU Health tightens limits on visitors, citing coronavirus spike

MU Health Care is further limiting the number of visitors patients can have amid an increase in local coronavirus infections.

Starting Wednesday, adult inpatients at University Hospital, the Missouri Orthopaedic Institute and Women's and Children's Hospital may only have one adult visitor each day between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., MU Health Care said in a news release Tuesday. Women in labor will be allowed to have a spouse or partner and a labor coach.

Adult patients with COVID-19 will not be allowed visitors.

Parents and guardians will be able to visit pediatric patients but only one parent or guardian will be allowed to visit children with COVID-19. The Missouri Psychiatric Center will allow one visitor from 4 to 8 p.m.

Emergency patients, those having same-day surgery and testing and those attending clinics will be limited to one visitor.

Visitors must be 16 or older, except at the psychiatric center, where they must be at least 18.

MU Health Care hospitals are treating 40 inpatients with COVID-19 and another 12 for whom test results are pending. Cases have surged in Boone County and around Mid-Missouri, with the state issuing advisories for counties in the Lake of the Ozarks area.

Boone County's hospitals are treating 84 patients with COVID-19. The hospitals' combined status is yellow, meaning some transfers and non-emergency procedures are being delayed, according to the county health department dashboard.

Cole County reports 47 new coronavirus cases

Another 47 coronavirus cases were reported in Cole County on Tuesday as infections are growing in much of Missouri.

The new cases bring Cole County's total to 8,292 cases outside nursing homes since the pandemic started, according to the county health department. The virus has killed 126 Cole County residents -- 56 of them in nursing homes.

Tuesday's total continued a trend of increasing infections in Cole County. Last week, the county recorded 96 cases over three days. Cole County's 182.4 cases per 100,000 people in the past week make it the 22nd most active county in the state, according to Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services data.

Cole County has a 16.5% positive test rate over the past week and new cases there are up nearly 35% in that time, according to the state.

52 additional deaths linked to COVID-19 in Missouri

An additional 52 deaths were reported on the state health dashboard Tuesday morning.

According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, 47 of the deaths occurred previously but were linked to COVID-19 after a weekly analysis of death certificates. All of the deaths occurred in 2021, but 37 were in the month of June alone.

State health officials also recorded an additional 1,627 confirmed cases of COVID-19, continuing the trend of higher daily totals and bringing the pandemic total to 536,427.

The state health dashboard showed an additional 649 probable cases. A total of 98,712 probable cases of the coronavirus have been discovered through antigen testing since the start of the pandemic.

The seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate also remained high, sitting at 12.2% Tuesday morning.