THURSDAY UPDATE: Boone County reports 127 hospitalizations, 14 hospitalizations are Boone County residents
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 68 new COVID-19 cases Thursday.
There are currently 621 active cases in the county, an increase of 10 from Tuesday. The county now has a reported total number of COVID-19 cases of 22,361.
The county reported 21,609 cases removed from isolation, an increase of 95 from Wednesday.
Boone County ranks eighth in the state with the most coronavirus cases in total volume in the past week. Cases are down 15% on the week. The county has a 10.4% positive test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The positivity rate is up for the previous week of August 6 through Thursday to 27.8.
The health department's hospital status remains in yellow, with 127 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals and 14 of them being Boone County residents. Of those, 32 are in intensive care and 11 are on ventilators.
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard is reporting that 99,617 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 87,609 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 55.2%. The second closest county in the state is St. Louis County with 54.2%.
Boone County is first in the state with a reported 48.5% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. St. Louis County is the second county in the state with 47.8% of residents have completed the doses for vaccination.
Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 47.4%. Montgomery County is third with 42.8%.
Cole County reports second-highest COVID-19 vaccination completion rate in mid-Missouri
The Cole County Health Department reported 40 new coronavirus cases Thursday.
According to the dashboard update, there are 10,110 residential cases and a total of 282 cases for long-term care facility residents. That brings a total of 10,392 total cases in the county.
The county is currently reporting 135 coronavirus-related deaths since the pandemic started, which is the most in Mid-Missouri.
Cole County ranks 19th in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per capita in the past week. Cases are down 13.7% on the week. The county has a 14.8% positive test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports about 41.3% of the county's population have been fully vaccinated.
State reports nearly 3,000 new confirmed coronavirus cases
Missouri reported nearly 3,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and almost 500 probable cases Thursday.
The daily new confirmed case total of 2,924 was well above the daily average of 1,885 over the last week, according to the state's coronavirus dashboard. The new cases pushed Missouri's total since the pandemic started last year to 609,476 confirmed cases.
The state reported another 497 probable cases through antigen testing for a total of 121,509 since the pandemic started. Seven new deaths were reported, bringing the total to 10,168.
Missouri is one of several states experiencing a surge in coronavirus cases powered by the more contagious delta variant. Those states are primarily located in the South and lower Midwest. A report this week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed high levels of virus transmission in nearly every Missouri county.
The state dashboard says new cases have dropped 9.4% over the past week. The positive test rate was at 14.1% on Thursday.
Hospitalizations have continued a sharp upward trend statewide, with 15% of intensive care beds remaining open as of Thursday. The state is reporting intensive care hospitalizations for COVID-19 of about 680 per day on average, which is higher than numbers reported during the winter spike in cases.
The state's vaccination rate is just 43.5%, which health experts say is helping to drive the increase in cases and hospitalizations. Vaccinations began to increase after a nadir in early July but have since leveled off to about 12,000 to 14,000 per day, compared to a peak of more than 56,000 in April.
Several Mid-Missouri counties are in the top 20 in the state for most new cases per capita over the last week: Moniteau at No. 4; Phelps at No. 7; Pettis at No. 15; and Callaway and Cole at Nos. 18 and 19, respectively.
