MONDAY UPDATES: Missouri DHSS adds 201 coronavirus related deaths after analyzing death certificates

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has added 201 COVID-19 related deaths after the state’s disease surveillance system analyzed death certificates.

Officials say the deaths will be captured and reported publicly through the dashboard Tuesday morning.

Of the 201 deaths:

• One in September
• Five in December
• 69 in January
• 126 in February

Officials at DHSS report the weekly activity typically causes a sharp increase in the deaths added to Missouri’s total the following day. DHSS is now regularly analyzing death certificates on Mondays.

COVID patients hospitalized in Boone County continue to go down

The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting one coronavirus-related death. The individual was in the 80+ age group and died on Feb. 14.

The county is reporting 42 new coronavirus cases were added to the information hub for Monday. The county now delays reporting cases by two days.

The dashboard is showing 42 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals. Of the 42 patients, nine are in intensive care and two are on ventilators.

The county has reported 42,597 since the pandemic began. The county has reported 13,717 cases since 2022 started.

Boone County ranks eighth 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 36.3% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has a 6.7% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).

The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports that 118,557 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 105,864 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 65.7%. The largest county in the state is St. Louis County with 70.4%.

Boone County is third in the state with a reported 58.7% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. St. Louis County is the first county in the state with 62.4% of residents having completed the doses for vaccination. The city of Joplin has 63% 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 51.6%.

Cole County reports over 51% of residents fully vaccinated from COVID

The Cole County Health Department reported six new coronavirus cases on Monday.

According to the dashboard update, there are 16,937 residential cases and 329 long-term care facility resident cases. That is 17,266 total cases in the county since March 2020.

Cole County has reported 188 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.

Cole County ranks 48th in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per 100,000 in the past week. Cases are down 54.3% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has reported a 5.4% 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 51.4% of the county's population have been fully vaccinated.

The Jefferson City School District reported no new coronavirus case in a student or staff on Sunday.

The district is reporting one active case in a student.

State of Missouri reports a positivity rate below 7%

The state of Missouri reported 1,618 new and probable coronavirus cases on Monday after the weekend.

The state health department is reporting a 482 seven-day coronavirus case average (3,375 confirmed cases from the previous week of reporting). The daily average looks at the last seven days and doesn't account for the past three days.

The dashboard reported 1,215 new coronavirus cases through PCR testing and another 403 probable cases identified in antigen testing from Thursday, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services coronavirus dashboard. Missouri has now reported 1,123,094 confirmed cases for the pandemic and more than 273,651 probable cases.

The state recorded 12 new deaths for 15,247 total and no new probable death for 3,611.

Missouri's new cases are down 42.5% over the past week, the state reports, as recent cases go down nationwide.

The rate of positive tests is 6.2% 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.

Maries (22), Osage (25), Boone (32), Callaway (36) and Saline (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 7.98% (.01 change for Sunday) of vaccinated Missourians have developed COVID-19 infections. The state is reporting 274,520 breakthrough cases out of 3,442,105 fully vaccinated people. The state has reported 1,526 breakthrough deaths.

Experts continue to tout vaccination as the best tool to fight the wave of new cases.

The state reported Monday that 56.1% of Missouri residents are fully vaccinated.

COVID-19 hospitalizations are also trending down, with the state reporting 17% of total inpatient capacity and 20% of ICU capacity remaining. Those numbers are at 18% and 35% in Central Missouri, respectively. The state is reporting 1,322 patient hospitalizations. There are currently 247 patients in Missouri ICUs. The hospital status for all of Missouri is on a three-day delay, the latest information is from Friday.

MU hospitals and clinics relax visitor restrictions

MU Health Care said Monday that it will allow two visitors per patient in its hospitals and clinics after restricting them to one for months because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Adult inpatients at University Hospital, Missouri Orthopaedic Institute, the Missouri Psychiatric Center and Women's Hospital will be allowed two patients per day effective immediately. COVID-19 patients will still be unable to have visitors, with an exception for pediatric patients.

Visiting hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day except at the Missouri Psychiatric Center, which has hours from 4 to 8 p.m. daily.

MU Health Care hospitals were treating 35 coronavirus patients Monday, down from numbers around 100 during the peak of the omicron wave. Case levels and hospitalizations have declined dramatically around the country, leading the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to relax its mask guidelines last week.

Boone County hospitals were treating 55 COVID-19 patients as of last week and have stopped delaying procedures and transfers.