FRIDAY UPDATES: Boone County reports highest active cases since early January
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting a coronavirus-related death. That brings the total to 119 deaths. The department reports the individual was in the 80+ age group and died July 15.
The health department reported 78 new COVID-19 cases Friday.
There are currently 781 active cases in the county, an increase of 46 from Thursday. The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 20,996. The 781 active cases is the highest reported since the weekend update on Jan 12.
The county reported 20,096 cases removed from isolation, an increase of 31 from Thursday.
Boone County ranks seventh in the state with the most coronavirus cases in total volume in the past week. Cases are down 15.7% on the week. The county has a 13.3% positive test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The positivity rate is up for the previous week of July 23 through Thursday to 39.1.
The health department's hospital status remains in yellow, with 95 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals and 24 of them being Boone County residents. Of those, 36 are in intensive care and 10 are on ventilators.
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard is reporting that 95,959 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 84,592 Boone County residents have completed their vaccine doses. Boone County has the largest percentage of county residents in Mid-Missouri that have received at least one dose of the vaccine with 53.2%. The second closest county in the state is St. Louis County with 51.8%.
Boone County is first in the state with a reported 46.9% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. St. Louis County is the second county in the state with 45.3% of residents have completed the doses for vaccination.
Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 44.7%. Montgomery County is third with 39.9%.
DHSS names Cole and Osage County as COVID-19 hot spot in new advisory
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) has listed Cole and Osage Counties as coronavirus hot spots in a new advisory.
The department reports COVID-19 cases in the past two weeks have increased to 363 in Cole and 49 in Osage.
Officials with DHSS report hospitals in the region are seeing resource strain from dramatically increased numbers of COVID-19 patients and hospitalizations with an average of 178+ people hospitalized in the region in the last 7 days. As a result, several hospitals in the region are at or near capacity. Continued disease spread into Central Missouri is expected.
The Cole County Health Department reported 65 new coronavirus cases.
According to the dashboard update, there have been 58 new cases in the county, bringing the total to 9,219 resident cases and seven new cases in long-term care facilities bringing the total to 280 cases. That brings a total of 9,499 total cases in the county.
According to the health department, there have been 202 coronavirus cases and 40 of the cases reported were breakthrough infections.
The county has reported 126 coronavirus-related deaths since the pandemic started.
Cole County ranks seventh in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per capita in the past week. Cases are up 2.9% on the week. The county has an 18.4% positive test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports about 39% of the county's population has been fully vaccinated.
Lincoln University requires masks as coronavirus continues to spread
Lincoln University in Jefferson City said this week it will again require masks on campus based on new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC earlier this week said people in virus hot spots such as Mid-Missouri should wear masks when indoors, regardless of their vaccination status. Lincoln joins the University of Missouri in requiring students and employees to wear masks in those settings starting Monday.
Lincoln also asks students and staff to use the Campus Clear app to report symptoms.
Cole County ranks seventh in the state for most coronavirus cases per capita over the past week, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. The county's positive coronavirus test rate over the past week is 18.4%.
New cases surpass 3,500, hospitalizations inch closer to 2,000
On Friday, the state health dashboard showed the largest single-day count of confirmed COVID-19 cases since Jan. 4.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services recorded 3,550 new confirmed cases of the virus in its update Friday, bringing the pandemic total to 567,751.
State health officials also reported 667 new probable cases of the virus. In total, 109,052 probable cases of COVID-19 have been discovered through antigen testing.
As the cases increase, so do hospitalizations.
The latest verified data shows 1,921 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Tuesday across the Show-Me State. Of those, 559 patients were in intensive care.
Eight additional deaths were added to the state health dashboard Friday morning. Since the pandemic began, 9,650 Missourians have died due to COVID-19.
The seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate also increased to 15% Friday morning.
