TUESDAY UPDATES: 375,000 Missourians enter vaccine lottery; drawing Friday

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP)

More than 375,000 Missourians have entered the state’s COVID-19 vaccine lottery program, but vaccinations continue to lag, especially in rural areas of the state.

State officials say the first of five drawings will be Friday.

All told, 800 adults will win $10,000 cash prizes, and 100 people ages 12-17 will win education savings accounts worth $10,000.

Only those who have initiated vaccination are eligible.

Republican Gov. Mike Parson announced the incentive program on July 21.

State officials say that vaccinations have risen nearly 50% in the past month.

But Missouri continues to lag far behind most states in vaccinations.

Boone County reports fourth coronavirus-related death in past two days

The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting one coronavirus-related death. That brings the total number of coronavirus deaths in Boone County to 127. The individual was in the 35-39 age group and died June 12. This is the fourth reported coronavirus-related death in two days.

The county reported 90 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday.

There are currently 703 active cases in the county, a decrease of 76 from Monday. The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 21,769.

The county reported 20,939 cases removed from isolation, an increase of 164 from Monday.

Boone County ranks eighth in the state with the most coronavirus cases in total volume in the past week. Cases are up 6.6% on the week. The county has a 12% positive test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

The positivity rate is up for the previous week of July 30 through Thursday to 32.2.

The health department's hospital status remains in yellow, with 118 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals and 30 of them being Boone County residents. Of those, 31 are in intensive care and 14 are on ventilators.

The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard is reporting that 98,117 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 86,128 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 54.4%. The second closest county in the state is St. Louis County with 53.2%.

Boone County is first in the state with a reported 47.7% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. St. Louis County is the second county in the state with 46.6% of residents have completed the doses for vaccination.

Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 46.4%. Montgomery County is third with 41.4%.

Cole County reports over 40% of residents fully vaccinated

The Cole County Health Department reports 48 new coronavirus cases.

According to the dashboard update, the total number of coronavirus cases in Cole County is 9,782 and a total of 280 cases for long-term care facility residents. That brings a total of 10,062 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 seventh in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per capita in the past week. Cases are down 14.6% on the week. The county has a 17.9% positive test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports about 40.1% of the county's population have been fully vaccinated.

Harrisburg schools requiring masks to protect students, staff from coronavirus

Harrisburg School District officials announced Tuesday they are requiring masks for students and staff in some situations effective immediately.

Superintendent Steve Combs explained the mandate in a post on the district's Facebook page Tuesday. Combs said the administration and school board reached the decision together. Harrisburg is a small district in rural Boone County with more than 600 students.

The mandate applies to buses, entry and dismissal times and anywhere social distancing isn't possible. Visitors to school buildings will also have to wear masks and will happen only with prior approval.

"We did not reach this decision lightly, and it is a fluid situation," Combs wrote. "The decision is based on a CDC recommendation that children need to be in school, and everyone needs to wear a mask, vaccinated or unvaccinated, while in the school setting. We have two priorities, safety and education.

"We will have over 600 students from preschool age to high school seniors convening on our campus in just a few short weeks, some vaccinated and a significant number not eligible to be vaccinated. We need an extra layer of protection as the COVID Delta Variant affects children at a much higher rate than the first wave."

Combs said he believes masks helped keep infections levels down last school year, when 43 students and 20 staff members tested positive for coronavirus.

Most Mid-Missouri districts have yet to make a decision on masks, with the school year set to start in about two weeks for many of them.

Boone County had nearly 800 active coronavirus cases as of Monday and hospitals are limiting transfers and some procedures. New cases are being reported at levels not seen since the winter, before vaccines were widely available.

COVID-19 hospitalizations drop below 2,000 as deaths near 10,000

While the state health dashboard showed hospitalizations trending downward Tuesday morning, the number of deaths due to COVID-19 continued growing closer to 10,000.

The latest hospital data showed the number of patients receiving treatment for COVID-19 dropped by more than 500 from Friday to Saturday, with 1,631 coronavirus patients in Missouri hospitals on Saturday.

The number of COVID-19 patients in the ICU also dropped dramatically, decreasing from 626 on Friday to 477 across the state on Saturday.

Even though the number of hospitalizations decreased, deaths continued on an upward trajectory.

The state health dashboard added 142 deaths due to the virus, bringing the total to 9,970 throughout the pandemic. Of those deaths, 109 occurred previously but were reported by state health officials upon the department's weekly review of data.

Missouri's Department of Health and Senior Services also recorded 1,754 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 Tuesday morning, bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 589,733.

The state health dashboard showed 642 new probable coronavirus cases. In total, 115,587 probable cases have been discovered through antigen testing since the pandemic began.

The seven-day COVID-19 positivity rate continued inching downward, sitting at 14.3% Tuesday.