TUESDAY UPDATES: Red Zone report shows cases up across Missouri; all counties have reported high community transmission rate

The newest State Profile Report shows Missouri remains at the high transmission level of COVID-19. The report shows new cases are up by 17% compared to last week with 190 cases per 100,000 people.

The report shows Missouri had 11,656 new cases of COVID-19 for the week of Nov. 24.

The report also indicates 131residents died from the coronavirus, a 47% increase from the previous week.

All Missouri counties are considered high community transmission.

Over 70.8% of Missouri residents 18 years and old have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine and 61.5% are considered fully vaccinated.

According to the report, over 99% of coronavirus cases were identified as the delta variant.

According to the report, 31 hospitals are dealing with staffing shortages, which account for 26% of hospitals in the state. Eight hospitals are currently dealing with supply shortages or seven percent of all hospitals.

Vaccine rates are going down, 30,035 people 18 and older initiated vaccination last week which is 1.2% lower than the last report. 1,541 people 12-17 initiated vaccines last week, which is .4% higher than the last report.

Boone County reports three new coronavirus-related deaths; 98 new cases

The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services reported three new coronavirus related deaths. This makes 180 deaths since the first one was reported in March 2020. The first individual was in the 65-69 age group and died Oct. 4. The second individual was in the 80+ age group and died Oct. 12. The third individual was in the 80+ age group and died Oct. 14.

The county reported 98 new COVID-19 cases from Monday.

There are currently 376 active cases in the county and 26,663 cases since the pandemic began. The county reported 26,107 cases removed from isolation.

Boone County ranks 13th in the state with the most coronavirus cases in total volume in the past week. Cases are down 27% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has an 8.7% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).

The health department's hospital status is yellow with 76 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals and 27 of them being Boone County residents. Of the 76 patients, 18 are in intensive care and five are on ventilators.

The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports that 109,559 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 95,978 Boone County residents have completed their vaccine doses.

Boone County has the third-largest percentage of county residents in Missouri that have received at least one dose of the vaccine with 60.7%. The largest county in the state is St. Louis County with 64.3%.

Boone County is third in the state with a reported 53.2% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. St. Louis County is the first county in the state with 56% of residents having completed the doses for vaccination. The city of Joplin has 58.5% of the population fully vaccinated.

Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 52.2%. Callaway County is third with 48%.

The Columbia Public Schools reports active coronavirus and quarantine cases to their website daily.

The district reported a 29.7 14-day rate per 10,000 for Monday.

CPS reports eight district facilities (six elementary schools, one middle school and one high school) currently have staff out because of COVID-19. Four staff members at an elementary school, one staff member at a middle school, one staff members at a high school and one staff member at a district-wide facility have tested positive for COVID-19. The district has one staff member at elementary school are currently quarantined because of COVID.

The district reports 29 district facilities to have students currently out due to the coronavirus. The district is reporting 18 of the elementary schools, six of the middle schools, three high schools and two district-wide facilities are affected.

There are 28 students that have tested positive for COVID-19. The district is reporting 18 students in elementary, four students in middle school, five students in high school and one student at a district-wide facility have tested positive for the coronavirus.

There are 114 students who are required to quarantine due to the coronavirus. The district reports 78 elementary students are currently quarantining, 24 students in middle school, nine students in high school and four students at district-wide facilities.

Cole County reports 46 new coronavirus cases

The Cole County Health Department reported 46 new coronavirus cases from Monday.

According to the dashboard update, there are 11,813 residential cases and 289 long-term care facility resident cases. That is 12,102 total cases in the county.

Cole County reports there are 168 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.

Cole County ranks 31st in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per 100,000 in the past week. Cases are down 18.2% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has reported an 11% positivity test rate, Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports about 52.2% of the county have initiated their first dose of the vaccine and 47.7% of the county's population have been fully vaccinated.

The Jefferson City School District reported no new coronavirus cases in a student or staff member from over the weekend.

The district is reporting no new active cases in students or in staff.

The district is reporting 108 close contacts for students and nine close contacts for staff.

Hospitalizations trending up as Missouri monitors for omicron variant

The state health department says it will monitor samples submitted by local health care providers for the new omicron variant of the coronavirus.

The variant was identified last week by South African researchers. Experts worry it could be more contagious, cause more severe illness or be able to evade vaccines. However, they caution that too little is known about the variant at this point to say for sure.

Meanwhile, hospitalizations and new coronavirus cases continue to trend up in Missouri. About 1,300 COVID-19 patients were in Missouri hospitals as of Saturday, the last day reliable numbers are available, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. Hospitalizations had been trending downward this fall until about mid-November.

New cases reported Tuesday were well above the daily average and the rate of positive coronavirus cases increased by a half percentage point to 11.1%, the state dashboard says. However, new cases over the last week are down 6.3%, though that data doesn't include the past few days.

The state reported 1,691 new confirmed coronavirus cases for a total of 740,514 since the pandemic began. The average increase over the last week is 1,117. The state reported another 678 probable cases identified through antigen testing for a total of 166,839. Deaths increased by 65 after a weekly review of certificates for a total of 12,594. Probable deaths increased by 26 to 2,840.

The state said in a news release Monday that 81 deaths were discovered in the weekly review, with 59 of those happening in November. That number includes confirmed and probable deaths.

Missouri continues to lag behind the national average in vaccination rate, with 51% of the state fully vaccinated as of Monday. The national average is nearly 60%.

Vaccinations have trended upward this month, but most of the more than 13,400 shots given per day over the past week are boosters, instead of first or second doses.