WEDNESDAY UPDATES: Boone County reports 43 COVID-19 patients in hospitals
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 28 new coronavirus cases were added to the information hub for Monday. The county now delays reporting cases by two days.
The dashboard is showing 43 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals. Of the 43 patients, seven are in intensive care and three are on ventilators.
The county has reported 42,636 since the pandemic began. The county has reported 13,756 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 27th when sorted by cases per 100,000. Cases are down 30.1% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has a 6.5% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports that 118,571 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 105,910 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 70.5%.
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 55.4%. Callaway County is third with 51.6%.
The Columbia Public Schools reports active coronavirus and quarantine cases to their website daily.
The district reported a 19.4 14-day rate for last Sunday.
CPS reports 15 district facilities (seven elementary schools, four middle schools, one high school and three other district-wide facilities) currently have staff out because of COVID-19.
The district is reporting 14 coronavirus cases in staff across the district. The breakdown in staff shows seven staff members at an elementary school, four staff members at middle schools, one staff member at a high school and two 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 11 district facilities to have students currently out due to the coronavirus. The district is reporting six of the elementary schools, three middle schools, one high school and one district-wide facility are affected.
There are five students that have tested positive for the coronavirus. The district is reporting three students in elementary, one student at the middle school level and one student at a district-wide facility 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, seven students in middle school, one student in high school and three students at a district-wide facility.
Cole County reports a 5.2% positivity rate
The Cole County Health Department reported five new coronavirus cases on Wednesday.
According to the dashboard update, there are 16,950 residential cases and 329 long-term care facility resident cases. That is 17,279 total cases in the county since March 2020.
Cole County has reported 190 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.
Cole County ranks 45th in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per 100,000 in the past week. Cases are down 46.8% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has reported a 5.2% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports about 55.4% 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 Tuesday.
The district is reporting two active case in a student.
State of Missouri reports coronavirus cases continue to go down
The state of Missouri reported 709 new and probable coronavirus cases on Monday after the weekend.
The state health department is reporting a 455 seven-day coronavirus case average (3,185 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 501 new coronavirus cases through PCR testing and another 208 probable cases identified in antigen testing from Thursday, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services coronavirus dashboard. Missouri has now reported 1,124,087 confirmed cases for the pandemic and more than 274,104 probable cases.
The state recorded 11 new deaths for 15,413 total and three new probable deaths for 3,670.
Missouri's new cases are down 41.2% over the past week, the state reports, as recent cases go down nationwide.
The rate of positive tests is 5.8% 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.
Howard (19), Callaway (23), Boone (27), Saline (31), Osage (36) and Maries (40) 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 8% (no change for Wednesday) of vaccinated Missourians have developed COVID-19 infections. The state is reporting 275,656 breakthrough cases out of 3,445,285 fully vaccinated people. The state has reported 1,598 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 23% of total inpatient capacity and 25% of ICU capacity remaining. Those numbers are at 28% and 41% in Central Missouri, respectively. The state is reporting 1,224 patient hospitalizations. There are currently 240 patients in Missouri ICUs. The hospital status for all of Missouri is on a three-day delay, the latest information is from Friday.
