TUESDAY UPDATES: Jamestown C-1 School District to go to virtual learning Thursday
Jamestown C-1 School District is moving to virtual instruction for Thursday and Friday due to a spike in COVID-19 positive tests in staff and students.
The district will be in-person learning Wednesday.
Officials say unless your child is sick, students will need to attend school Wednesday in order to ensure they have an electronic device and any other necessary resources to complete their assignments. If your child isn’t able to attend school tomorrow, you may contact the front office to arrange a time to pick up their supplies.
The paper packets previously sent home with elementary students will not be required to be completed at this time.
Boone County reports information hub delay for third time since Friday
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services in a release says there will not be an information hub update again, the third time since Friday. Officials say the delay is caused by the COVID-19 surge.
Boone County ranks fifth in the state with the most coronavirus cases in total volume in the past week and is fourth when sorted by cases per 100,000. Cases are down 12.7% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has a 37.6% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports that 117,580 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 104,249 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 65.2%. The largest county in the state is St. Louis County with 69.5%.
Boone County is third in the state with a reported 57.8% 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 61.9% of the population fully vaccinated.
Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 55%. Callaway County is third with 51.1%.
Cole County reports 200 new coronavirus cases
The Cole County Health Department reported 200 new coronavirus cases Wednesday.
According to the dashboard update, there are 15,895 residential cases and 313 long-term care facility resident cases. That is 16,208 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, last week.
Cole County has reported 175 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.
Cole County ranks 11th in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per 100,000 in the past week. Cases are down 21.4% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has reported a 39.3% 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 three new coronavirus cases in students and one new coronavirus cases in a staff member Monday.
The district is reporting 36 active cases in students and 15 active cases in staff.
The district is reporting 169 close contacts for students and 25 close contacts for staff.
State of Missouri reports coronavirus cases trend downward
The state of Missouri reported 9,390 new and probable coronavirus cases for Monday.
The state of Missouri’s daily average of new coronavirus cases has gone back up to an 8,304 seven-day average (58,126 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 6,722 new coronavirus cases through PCR testing and another 2,668 probable cases identified in antigen testing from Friday, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services coronavirus dashboard. Missouri has now reported 1,036,178 confirmed cases for the pandemic and more than 248,862 probable cases.
The state recorded 30 new deaths for 13,902 total and two new probable death was added for a total of 3,168.
Missouri's new cases are down 11.6% over the past week, the state reports, as recent cases surge nationwide.
The rate of positive tests is 35.1% 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 (4), Pettis (6), Miller (8), Callaway (10), Cole (11), Osage (12), Moniteau (32) and Camden (37) 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 6.5% (a .54% increase from last Monday) of vaccinated Missourians have developed COVID-19 infections. The state is reporting an increase of 18,356 breakthrough cases to 219,278 breakthrough cases out of 3,375,736 fully vaccinated people. The state has reported 1,053 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 18% of total inpatient capacity and 17% of ICU capacity remaining. Those numbers are at 24% and 28% in Central Missouri, respectively. The state is reporting 3,614 patient hospitalizations. There are currently 693 patients in Missouri ICUs.
All Missouri counties report high community transmission rate in latest Red Zone Report
The newest State Profile Report shows Missouri counties remain at the high transmission level of COVID-19. The report shows a new case rate of 1,387 cases per 100,000 people, a change of 1% from last week.
The report shows Missouri had 85,155 new cases of COVID-19 for the week of Jan. 21.
The report also indicates 188 residents died from the coronavirus, a 30% decrease from the previous week.
All Missouri counties are considered high community transmission.
The report states that 75.3% of Missouri residents 18 years and older have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine and 63.9% are considered fully vaccinated. Over 40.7% of residents 18 years and older have received a booster shot.
According to the report, 42.7% of coronavirus cases were identified as the omicron variant and 55.7% were identified as the delta variant.
According to the report, six hospitals are currently dealing with supply shortages or six percent of all hospitals. The report has removed reference to staffing shortages for state hospitals.
Vaccine rates are down with 45,800 people 12 and older initiated getting a vaccination last week, which is 72% higher than the last report. 4,208 people 12-17 initiated vaccines last week, which is 59.2% higher than the last report.
MU researchers identify omicron mutations
A team including University of Missouri researchers has identified more than 40 mutations specific to the omicron variant of the coronavirus.
MU said in a news release that the findings can help explain how the omicron variant is better able to evade immunity from vaccination or previous infection.
The research was led by Kamlendra Singh, a professor in the MU College of Veterinary Medicine. Singh and the other researchers, including Hickman High School student Saathvik Kannan, found 46 mutations specific to omicron, including several in the region of the virus' spike protein where antibodies attach themselves to the virus.
“The purpose of antibodies is to recognize the virus and stop the binding, which prevents infection,” Singh said in a news release. “However, we found many of the mutations in the omicron variant are located right where the antibodies are supposed to bind, so we are showing how the virus continues to evolve in a way that it can potentially escape or evade the existing antibodies, and therefore continue to infect so many people.”
Breakthrough infections -- those in people who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus -- and reinfections of people who already had the coronavirus have risen as the omicron variant has become the dominant strain. Its ability to evade immunity and spread easily has helped omicron push new cases and hospitalizations to record levels in Missouri and elsewhere.
More than 47% of Missouri's new cases last week were breakthroughs, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. However, studies show that coronavirus vaccines remain effective in preventing serious illness and death from the virus. The state reports 55% of Missourians are fully vaccinated.
