THURSDAY UPDATES: Boone County active COVID-19 cases drop over 200, coronavirus related deaths increases to 123
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting two coronavirus-related deaths. That brings the total to 123 deaths. Both individuals were in the 80+ age group and died July 18 and July 29.
The health department reported 99 new COVID-19 cases.
There are currently 723 active cases in the county, a decrease of 212 from Wednesday. The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 21,424.
The county reported 20,578 cases removed from isolation.
Boone County ranks eighth in the state with the most coronavirus cases in total volume in the past week. Cases are down 4.3% on the week. The county has a 13.1% 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 39.5.
The health department's hospital status remains in yellow, with 113 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals and 24 of them being Boone County residents. Of those, 39 are in intensive care and 23 are on ventilators.
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard is reporting that 97,308 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 85,501 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 53.9%. The second closest county in the state is St. Louis County with 52.4%.
Boone County is first in the state with a reported 47.4% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. St. Louis County is the second county in the state with 45.9% of residents have completed the doses for vaccination.
Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 45.6%. Montgomery County is third with 40.8%.
Missouri DHSS lists Callaway County as COVID-19 hot spot
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services is now listing Callaway County as a COVID-19 hot spot.
Compared to last week, COVID-19 cases in Callaway County are currently up 30% to 221 cases.
Officials report hospitals in the region are seeing resource strain from dramatically increased numbers of COVID-19 patients and hospitalizations.
An average of 191+ people has been hospitalized in the region over the last week. As a result, several hospitals in the region are at or near capacity.
Continued disease spread into Central Missouri is expected.
The vaccination rate within Callaway County is 33.5%. Experts say at least 70% - 80% of people need immunity to minimize spread within a community.
Cole County ranks 4th in Missouri with COVID-19 cases per capita
The Cole County Health Department reported 59 new coronavirus cases.
According to the dashboard update, there have been 59 new cases in the county, bringing the total to 9,595 resident cases and a total of 280 cases for long-term care facility residents. That brings a total of 9,875 total cases in the county.
The county is currently reporting 128 coronavirus-related deaths since the pandemic started, the most in Mid-Missouri.
Cole County ranks fourth in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per capita in the past week. Cases are up 6.3% on the week. The county has a 19.4% positive test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports about 39.6% of the county's population have been fully vaccinated.
Capital Region Medical Center to restrict visitors beginning Friday
Capital Region Medical Center will restrict visitors to only one visitor/support person age 18 or over per day beginning Friday.
New visitation hours will be from 6:00 am – 7:00 pm, daily.
Visitors will not be allowed in COVID positive patient rooms unless it is an end-of-life situation or other special accommodations have been arranged.
Pediatric patients and obstetric patients may have 2 visitors/support persons. COVID-positive patients in the Family Maternity Center may have one visitor/support person.
Clinic patients and patients receiving outpatient services may have one visitor/support person.
Pediatric patients in the clinic setting may have two parents or guardians accompany them.
All Emergency Room patients will be allowed only one visitor/support person, including pediatric patients.
Cole County to provide update during weekly press conference
Cole County commissioners will hold their weekly COVID-19 update at 1 p.m.
Watch in the player below.
On July 30, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) listed Cole County as a coronavirus hot spot in a new advisory.
The department reports COVID-19 cases in the past two weeks have increased to 363 in Cole County.
COVID-19 vaccinations required for University of Missouri Health Care employees
University of Missouri Health Care will soon require all employees, students and providers who work, learn or practice medicine to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 1, unless granted a medical or religious exception.
Officials report the reason is largely due to the highly contagious Delta variant.
The majority of MU Health Care’s COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated, and data shows that unvaccinated people account for nearly 99% of recent U.S. COVID-19 deaths and more than 90% of hospitalizations.
“The safety of our patients, employees and community is our top priority,” said Jonathan Curtright, MU Health Care’s chief executive officer. “As a health system, our mission is to save and improve lives. We know vaccinations save lives.”
MU Health Care joins nearly 90 other health care organizations across the U.S. and will be at least the sixth Missouri health system to implement a vaccination requirement.
“Since the vaccines first became available, we have strongly encouraged all employees to become vaccinated against COVID-19, as the vaccine is safe, effective and the best way to keep our communities safe,” said Rick Barohn, MD, executive vice chancellor for health affairs for the University of Missouri. “We are pleased that, across our health system, we have reached a nearly 70% employee vaccination rate, but we can do better.”
The Oct. 1 vaccination deadline provides time for employees to become fully vaccinated prior to the season when the flu and other respiratory diseases similar to COVID-19 begin to circulate.
Missouri health leaders warn of COVID-19 increase in kids
Health leaders in St. Louis and Springfield are warning that hospitals in the region are admitting more young patients with COVID-19.
Spring Schmidt, deputy director of the St. Louis County health department, said Wednesday about one in five current COVID-19 patients are people under the age of 19, including those under 12 who are not yet eligible for the vaccine.
On Tuesday, Dr. Clay Dunagan, of the St. Louis Metropolitan Task Force, said the number of children with COVID-19 in the task force's hospitals increased from 13 children last week to 20 this week.
Springfield-Greene County health officials said Wednesday the region also is seeing more children hospitalized with COVID-19.
Number of COVID-19 patients in ICU nears December peak
As the coronavirus continues to surge in the Show-Me State, the number of infected Missourians in the ICU is inching closer to its all-time record from the pandemic.
On Monday, 639 COVID-19 patients were receiving intensive care across Missouri. The number is just 46 patients below the peak on Dec. 22 of last year, when 685 people were in the ICU for treatment.
As of Monday, 16% of ICU bed capacity remained across the state.
Overall COVID-19 hospitalizations remained above 2,000, rising slightly to 2,092 on Monday.
Meanwhile, the state health dashboard showed more than 3,000 new cases of the virus for the second day in a row. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services recorded 3,058 new confirmed cases on Thursday, bringing the total number to 580,867.
An additional 888 probable COVID-19 cases were also added to the dashboard. In total, 580,867 probable cases have been discovered through antigen testing in Missouri since the pandemic began.
The number of deaths due to the virus increased by 21 Thursday morning, bringing the death toll to 9,798.
In the past seven days, 15.2% of people who got tested for COVID-19 had positive results. It's Missouri's highest seven-day positivity rate for the virus since Jan. 11.
