FRIDAY UPDATES: Boone County hospitalizations continue to go down
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 44 new coronavirus cases were added to the information hub for Wednesday. The county now delays reporting cases by two days.
The county has reported 42,416 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 35th when sorted by cases per 100,000. Cases are down 31.6% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has a 12% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).
The county is reporting 92 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals. Of the 92 patients, 19 are in intensive care and five are on ventilators.
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports that 118,332 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 105,607 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 62.1% 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%.
Cole County reports coronavirus cases continue to drop
The Cole County Health Department reported eight new coronavirus cases on Friday.
According to the dashboard update, there are 16,859 residential cases and 328 long-term care facility resident cases. That is 17,187 total cases in the county since March 2020.
Cole County has reported 188 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.
There will be no COVID-19 updates by the Cole County Health Department on Monday, updates will resume on Tuesday.
Cole County ranks 30th in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per 100,000 in the past week. Cases are down 22.4% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has reported a 12.8% 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 51.5% 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 Thursday.
The district is reporting eight active cases in a student and one active case in staff.
State of Missouri's positivity rate drops under 12%
The state of Missouri reported 955 new and probable coronavirus cases on Friday.
The state of Missouri’s daily average of new coronavirus cases is 1,129 seven-day average (7,903 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 232 new coronavirus cases through PCR testing and another 723 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 1,116,688 confirmed cases for the pandemic and more than 271,172 probable cases.
The state recorded nine new deaths for 14,886 total and two probable deaths were added for 3,465.
Missouri's new cases are down 39% over the past week, the state reports, as recent cases surge nationwide.
The rate of positive tests is 11.2% 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 (7), Osage (8), Pettis (10), Chariton (19), Callaway (24), Cole (30), Boone (35) and Montgomery (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 7.62% (a .01 decrease for Friday) of vaccinated Missourians have developed COVID-19 infections. The state is reporting 261,333 breakthrough cases out of 3,428,619 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 55.9% of Missouri residents are fully vaccinated.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are also trending down, with the state reporting 17% of total inpatient capacity and 18% of ICU capacity remaining. Those numbers are at 25% and 32% in Central Missouri, respectively. The state is reporting 2,114 patient hospitalizations. There are currently 452 patients in Missouri ICUs.
