THURSDAY UPDATES: Boone County reports under 100 hospital patients with COVID
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 99 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals. Of the 99 patients, 14 are in intensive care and nine are on ventilators.
The county is reporting 49 new coronavirus cases were added to the information hub for Tuesday. The county now delays reporting cases by two days.
The county has reported 42,372 since the pandemic began.
Boone County ranks eighth in the state with the most coronavirus cases in total volume in the past week and is 39th when sorted by cases per 100,000. Cases are down 41.7% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has a 12.2% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports that 118,316 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 105,591 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 65.6%. The largest county in the state is St. Louis County with 70.2%.
Boone County is third in the state with a reported 58.5% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. St. Louis County is the first county in the state with 62% of residents have completed the doses for vaccination. The city of Joplin has 62.7% of the population fully vaccinated.
Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 55.3%. Callaway County is third with 51.5%.
The Columbia Public Schools reports active coronavirus and quarantine cases to their website daily.
The district reported a 45.9 14-day rate for last Tuesday.
CPS reports 17 district facilities (seven elementary schools, four middle schools, two high schools and four other district-wide facilities) currently have staff out because of COVID-19.
The district is reporting 19 coronavirus cases in staff across the district. The breakdown in staff shows eight staff members at an elementary school, six staff members at middle schools, two 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 13 district facilities to have students currently out due to the coronavirus. The district is reporting seven of the elementary schools, four middle schools, one high school and one district-wide facility are affected.
There are seven students that have tested positive for the coronavirus. The district is reporting five students in elementary and two students at the middle school level have tested positive for the coronavirus.
There are 18 students who are required to quarantine due to the coronavirus. The district reports four elementary students are currently quarantining, eight students in middle school, one student in high school and five students at district-wide facilities.
New coronavirus cases in Cole County continue to fall
The Cole County Health Department reported six new coronavirus cases on Wednesday.
According to the dashboard update, there are 16,861 residential cases and 328 long-term care facility resident cases. That is 17,179 total cases in the county since March 2020.
Cole County has reported 188 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.
Cole County ranks 32nd in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per 100,000 in the past week. Cases are down 33.8% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has reported a 14.2% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports about 55.3% of the county have initiated their first dose of the vaccine and 51.2% of the county's population have been fully vaccinated.
The Jefferson City School District reported five new coronavirus cases in students and no new staff members on Wednesday.
The district is reporting seven active cases in a student and three active cases in staff.
State of Missouri reports a positivity rate below 13%
The state of Missouri reported 1,875 new and probable coronavirus cases on Thursday.
The state of Missouri’s daily average of new coronavirus cases is 1,264 seven-day average (8,850 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 1,340 new coronavirus cases through PCR testing and another 535 probable cases identified in antigen testing from Friday through Monday, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services coronavirus dashboard. Missouri has now reported 1,116,456 confirmed cases for the pandemic and more than 270,449 probable cases.
The state recorded six new deaths for 14,877 total and two probable deaths were added for 3,463.
Missouri's new cases are down 41.6% over the past week, the state reports, as recent cases surge nationwide.
The rate of positive tests is 12.1% 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.
Osage (5), Pettis (14), Callaway (24), Miller (25), Chariton (27), Saline (28), Cole (32), Randolph (34) and Boone (39) 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 7.63% (no increase for Thursday) of vaccinated Missourians have developed COVID-19 infections. The state is reporting 261,333 breakthrough cases out of 3,427,279 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 55.8% of Missouri residents are fully vaccinated.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are also trending down, with the state reporting 20% of total inpatient capacity and 19% of ICU capacity remaining. Those numbers are at 31% and 36% in Central Missouri, respectively. The state is reporting 2,160 patient hospitalizations. There are currently 479 patients in Missouri ICUs.
