TUESDAY UPDATES: Boone County reports 115 new coronavirus cases

The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services reported 115 total new coronavirus cases for Sunday. The county now delays reporting cases by two days.

The county is reporting nearly 42% of the new cases are for residents 29 and younger with the largest number of new cases being for those aged newborn to nine.

The county has reported 12,151 coronavirus cases in Jan. 2022 and 41,031 since the pandemic beginning.

The health department is reporting 157 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals. Of the 157 patients, 31 are in intensive care and 18 are on ventilators.

Boone County ranks fifth in the state with the most coronavirus cases in total volume in the past week and is 12th when sorted by cases per 100,000. Cases are down 42.2% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has a 30.8% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).

The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports that 117,889 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 104,832 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 65.3%. The largest county in the state is St. Louis County with 69.8%.

Boone County is third in the state with a reported 58.1% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. St. Louis County is the first county in the state with 61.5% of residents having completed the doses for vaccination. The city of Joplin has 62.1% of the population fully vaccinated.

Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 55.1%. Callaway County is third with 51.3%.

The Columbia Public Schools reports active coronavirus and quarantine cases to their website daily. They updated it with new information from Sunday.

The district reported a 14-day rate of 266.1 for Sunday.

CPS reports 25 district facilities (12 elementary schools, seven middle schools, three high schools and three other district-wide facilities) currently have staff out because of COVID-19.

The district is reporting 32 coronavirus cases in staff across the district. The breakdown in staff shows 14 staff members at an elementary school, 10 staff members at middle schools, five staff members at high schools and three staff members at district-wide facilities who have tested positive for COVID-19. Three staff members at elementary school have to quarantine due to being in close contact.

The district reports 24 district facilities to have students currently out due to the coronavirus. The district is reporting 16 of the elementary schools, five of the seven middle schools and three high schools are affected.

There are 62 students that have tested positive for COVID-19. The district is reporting 37 students in elementary, nine students in middle school and 16 students in high school have tested positive for the coronavirus.

There are 15 students who are required to quarantine due to the coronavirus. The district reports four elementary students are currently quarantining, eight students in middle school and three students in high school.

Cole County reports 88 new coronavirus cases; seven new COVID-related deaths

The Cole County Health Department reported 88 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday.

According to the dashboard update, there are 16,424 residential cases and 317 long-term care facility resident cases. That is 16,741 total cases in the county.

Cole County has reported seven new coronavirus-related deaths.  The deaths occurred in December and early January. The county has reported 182 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.

Cole County ranks 29th in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per 100,000 in the past week. Cases are down 42% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has reported a 29.1% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports about 55.1% of the county have initiated their first dose of the vaccine and 50.9% of the county's population have been fully vaccinated.

The Jefferson City School District reported eight new coronavirus cases in students and no new cases in staff members on Monday.

The district is reporting 27 active cases in students and six active cases in staff.

The district is reporting 176 close contacts for students and 25 close contacts for staff.

State of Missouri reports over 3,500 new coronavirus cases

The state of Missouri reported 5,109 new and probable coronavirus cases for Tuesday.

The state of Missouri’s daily average of new coronavirus cases has gone back up to a 5,207 seven-day average (36,427 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 3,514 new coronavirus cases through PCR testing and another 1,595 probable cases identified in antigen testing from Friday, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services coronavirus dashboard. Missouri has now reported 1,075,225 confirmed cases for the pandemic and more than 259,819 probable cases.

The state recorded 316 new death for 14,265 total and 68 probable deaths were added for 3,243.

Missouri's new cases are down 39.9% over the past week, the state reports, as recent cases surge nationwide.

The rate of positive tests is 28.4% 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 (3), Miller (10), Callaway (11), Boone (12), Pettis (16), Osage (21), Cole (29), Camden (30), Randolph (33) and Audrain (38) 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 7.19% (a .33% decrease for Tuesday) of vaccinated Missourians have developed COVID-19 infections. The state is reporting an 11,168 case increase of breakthrough cases of 243,907 breakthrough cases out of 3,394,566 fully vaccinated people. The state has reported 1,074 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 55.3% of Missouri residents are fully vaccinated.

COVID-19 hospitalizations are also trending down, with the state reporting 18% of total inpatient capacity and 15% of ICU capacity remaining. Those numbers are at 27% and 32% in Central Missouri, respectively. The state is reporting 3,417 patient hospitalizations. There are currently 657 patients in Missouri ICUs.

Missouri adds nearly 400 deaths to COVID-19 tally

Nearly 400 new COVID-19 deaths were added to Missouri's total Tuesday in the state health department's weekly review of death certificates.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported an additional 399 COVID-19 deaths from the review, with 364 of those in January. The deaths date as far back as October. The state has recorded nearly 14,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and another 3,175 probable deaths.

The death rate from COVID-19 in Missouri has dropped sharply in recent weeks despite the omicron wave that has led to record levels of cases and hospitalizations. Deaths are down 25% over the last week, according to the state dashboard.

Hospitalizations remain at levels much higher than previous pandemic peaks but have been falling in recent days.