THURSDAY UPDATES: Boone County reports new coronavirus cases down over 65% compared to last week
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services reported 74 new coronavirus cases were added to the information hub for Tuesday. The county now delays reporting cases by two days.
The county has reported 42,030 since the pandemic began.
The health department is reporting 122 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals and the healthcare system capacity is yellow. Of the 122 patients, 22 are in intensive care and 11 are on ventilators.
Boone County ranks seventh in the state with the most coronavirus cases in total volume in the past week and is 32nd when sorted by cases per 100,000. Cases are down 65.8% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has an 18.6% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports that 118,119 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 105,308 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 65.5%. The largest county in the state is St. Louis County with 70%.
Boone County is third in the state with a reported 58.4% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. St. Louis County is the first county in the state with 61.8% of residents having completed the doses for vaccination. The city of Joplin has 62.5% of the population fully vaccinated.
Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 55.2%. Callaway County is third with 51.4%.
The Columbia Public Schools reports active coronavirus and quarantine cases to their website daily. They updated it with new information from Wednesday.
The district reported a 101.9 14-day rate for Tuesday.
CPS reports 20 district facilities (nine elementary schools, four middle schools, three high schools and four other district-wide facilities) currently have staff out because of COVID-19.
The district is reporting 23 coronavirus cases in staff across the district. The breakdown in staff shows nine staff members at an elementary school, seven staff members at middle schools, four 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 14 district facilities to have students currently out due to the coronavirus. The district is reporting seven of the elementary schools, three middle schools, three high schools and one district-wide facility are affected.
There are 19 students that have tested positive for COVID-19. The district is reporting five students in elementary, four students in middle school, nine students in high school and one students in district-wide facilities have tested positive for the coronavirus.
There are 12 students who are required to quarantine due to the coronavirus. The district reports four elementary students are currently quarantining, seven students in middle school and one student in high school.
Cole County reports 46 new coronavirus cases
The Cole County Health Department reported 46 new coronavirus cases on Thursday.
According to the dashboard update, there are 16,744 residential cases and 327 long-term care facility resident cases. That is 17,071 total cases in the county since March 2020.
Cole County has reported 182 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.
Cole County ranks 34th in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per 100,000 in the past week. Cases are down 56.5% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has reported a 20.9% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports about 55.2% of the county have initiated their first dose of the vaccine and 51.1% of the county's population have been fully vaccinated.
The Jefferson City School District reported no new coronavirus cases in students or staff on Wednesday.
The district is reporting three active cases in students and four active cases in staff.
State of Missouri reports over 5,800 new coronavirus cases; positivity rate drops below 20%
The state of Missouri reported 6,539 new and probable coronavirus cases for Thursday.
The state of Missouri’s daily average of new coronavirus cases has gone back up to a 2,095 seven-day average (14,665 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 5,835 new coronavirus cases through PCR testing and another 704 probable cases identified in antigen testing from Thursday, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services coronavirus dashboard. Missouri has now reported 1,106,024 confirmed cases for the pandemic and more than 267,411 probable cases.
The state recorded 20 new death for 14,612 total and four probable death was removed for 3,375.
Missouri's new cases are down 58.5% over the past week, the state reports, as recent cases surge nationwide.
The rate of positive tests is 19.31% 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.
Pettis (10), Callaway (19), Saline (25), Miller (29), Boone (32) and Cole (34) 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 7.66% (a .06 increase for Thursday) of vaccinated Missourians have developed COVID-19 infections. The state is reporting 2,006 new cases of breakthrough cases for 261,333 breakthrough cases out of 3,413,383 fully vaccinated people. The state has reported 1,277 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 55.6% of Missouri residents are fully vaccinated.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are also trending down, with the state reporting 33% of total inpatient capacity and 17% of ICU capacity remaining. Those numbers are at 28% and 30% in Central Missouri, respectively. The state is reporting 2,875 patient hospitalizations. There are currently 609 patients in Missouri ICUs.
