MONDAY UPDATES: Boone County reports no coronavirus updates due to increased workload for staff

The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services says there will be no update again today as the organization makes changes to the hub.

The department also did not report on Friday due to the large volume of cases causing an increased workload for the department’s staff.

The department will also be changing how information is reported to help staff while still providing data to the public.

Boone County ranks fifth in the state with the most coronavirus cases in total volume in the past week and is second when sorted by cases per 100,000. Cases are down 10.8% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has a 38.7% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).

The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports that 117,539 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 104,190 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 65.1%. The largest county in the state is St. Louis County with 69.4%.

Boone County is third in the state with a reported 57.7% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. St. Louis County is the first county in the state with 61.1% of residents having completed the doses for vaccination. The city of Joplin has 61.8% of the population fully vaccinated.

Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 55%. Callaway County is third with 51%.

Missouri attorney general sues nine more schools to halt mask mandates

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt today filed suit against nine more school districts to halt their illegal mask mandate policies.

Districts that were sued include Bayless, Jennings, Lexington, Kirkwood, Ritenour, Hancock Place, Special School District of St. Louis, Meramec Valley, and University City.

“As we’ve made clear from the beginning, the power to make health decisions for their children should be in the hands of parents, not bureaucrats,” said Attorney General Schmitt.

On Friday of last week, the Missouri Attorney General’s Office filed suit against 36 school districts to halt mask mandates.

Cole County continues to report large numbers due to data backlog

The Cole County Health Department reported 338 new coronavirus cases Friday.

According to the dashboard update, there are 15,696 residential cases and 312 long-term care facility resident cases. That is 16,008 total cases in the county.

“Because of a reporting issue with a local healthcare system that resulted in a backlog of data, the Cole County Health Department anticipates receiving a large number of positive COVID-19 cases over the next few days from MO Department of Health and Senior Services.  The positive cases date back to the first part of December,” said Kristi Campbell, director of Cole County Health Department, on Tuesday.

Cole County has reported 175 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.

Cole County ranks 15th in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per 100,000 in the past week and 14th overall in total volume. Cases are down 31.3% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has reported a 38.7% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports about 55% of the county have initiated their first dose of the vaccine and 50.6% of the county's population have been fully vaccinated.

The Jefferson City School District reported one new coronavirus case in students and one new coronavirus cases in staff members on Sunday.

The district is reporting 43 active cases in students and 16 active cases in staff.

The district is reporting 169 close contacts for students and 25 close contacts for staff.

State of Missouri reports hospital and ICU capacity trending down

The state of Missouri reported 5,697 new and probable coronavirus cases for Monday.

The state of Missouri’s daily average of new coronavirus cases has gone back up to an 8,502 seven-day average (59,512 confirmed cases from the previous week of reporting) as the state reports new coronavirus cases across the state according to state health department reporting. The daily average looks at the last seven days and doesn't account for the past three days, which will push that number even higher.

The state reported 4,979 new coronavirus cases through PCR testing and another 718 probable cases identified in antigen testing from Friday, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services coronavirus dashboard. Missouri has now reported 1,029,456 confirmed cases for the pandemic and more than 246,194 probable cases.

The state recorded no new deaths for 13,872 total and 13 new probable death was added for a total of 3,166.

Missouri's new cases are down 15.4% over the past week, the state reports, as recent cases surge nationwide.

The rate of positive tests is 35.2% for the last week. A higher positivity suggests higher transmission and that there are likely more people with coronavirus in the community who haven’t been tested yet.

Saline (1), Boone (2), Pettis (6), Miller (9), Callaway (10), Osage (14), Cole (15), Camden, (36), Moniteau (39) and Randolph (40) counties are all in the top 40 Missouri counties in cases per capita over the last week, according to state statistics.

The state reports that 5.96% (a .01% decrease from last Friday) of vaccinated Missourians have developed COVID-19 infections. The state is reporting 200,922 breakthrough cases out of 3,373,172 fully vaccinated people. The state has reported 994 breakthrough deaths.

Experts continue to tout vaccination as the best tool to fight the wave of new cases.

Still, new vaccinations have effectively stalled in Missouri, with more boosters being given daily than first or second shots. The state reported Thursday that 55% of Missouri residents are fully vaccinated.

COVID-19 hospitalizations are also trending down, with the state reporting 16% of total inpatient capacity and 15% of ICU capacity remaining. Those numbers are at 18% and 25% in Central Missouri, respectively. The state is reporting 3,610 patient hospitalizations. There are currently 681 patients in Missouri ICUs.

Hospitals urge Missourians to use emergency rooms for emergencies amid COVID-19 surge

The Missouri Hospital Association is urging Missourians "to reserve emergency departments for emergency needs only in the weeks ahead" because of the extra strain on hospitals from record numbers of patients with COVID-19.

Patients suffering severe or life-threatening issues should use emergency rooms, but those who only need routine care such as coronavirus testing should "seek services in the appropriate environment," the association said in a news release. That includes testing sites, doctors' offices and pharmacies that sell COVID-19 tests.

"Unfortunately, the patient surge — from demand for COVID-19 testing and care, as well as other normal seasonal increases in hospital utilization — is causing hospital ED waiting rooms to fill up," Jon D. Doolittle, president and CEO of the association, said in the release. "This creates a bottleneck because every patient must be screened and treated under federal law, regardless of the seriousness of their condition. In an emergency, a patient should always seek ED care.”

Nearly 3,800 patients with coronavirus were being treated Thursday in Missouri hospitals. The number of COVID-19 patients in the state's hospitals remains higher than previous pandemic waves, including last winter's surge. Hospitals have delayed procedures and shuffled staff around to help meet the excess demand.

MU Health Care reported Monday that it is treating 117 patients with coronavirus. SSM-St. Mary's Hospital in Jefferson City said Friday that 36% of its patients have the coronavirus and 85% of those are not vaccinated against the virus.