MONDAY UPDATES: Coronavirus numbers drop in Columbia Public Schools
Columbia Public Schools reported a large drop in the number of students in quarantine because of coronavirus Monday.
The district reported 324 students in quarantine and 58 active student coronavirus cases Monday morning. Those numbers are down from 391 and 69 reported Friday, respectively. The 58 active cases make up nearly 10% of Boone County's total active cases, as reported by the county health department.
Sixteen of 21 elementary schools are affected, down from 17 last week. Six out of seven middle schools are affected, down from seven last week. All four of the district's high schools are affected by active cases and quarantines. The district reported eight active cases in staff members and seven staff members in quarantine.
More school-age children are being infected with the coronavirus as the more contagious delta variant continues to power a summer surge. New cases have risen significantly in the last month for children ages 5-14, according to state data. Many children in that age group are not eligible for vaccination, which is only approved for people 12 and older.
Missouri adds more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases
On Monday, the state added 1,120 confirmed cases and 163 probable cases according to the Missouri COVID-19 Dashboard. This brings the total number of confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic in Missouri to 640,559 COVID-19 cases.
The seven day positivity rate has dropped from 11.6% on Sunday to 11.4% on Monday. A month ago on Aug. 6, the positivity rate stood at 15%.
Two new deaths were recorded on Monday. The Missouri Department of Human and Health Services has recorded a total of 10,655 deaths during the pandemic.
In the past seven days, the state saw approximately a 10% decrease in cases compared to the week before. It also saw a nearly 47% reduction in deaths.
The state's vaccine dashboard outlines that over 3.2 million Missourians have gotten at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. This equates to 52.2% of the Missouri population.
Just under 75% of Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine according to the CDC.
