MONDAY UPDATES: Boone County reports COVID cases down over 41% compared to last week
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 17 new coronavirus cases were added to the information hub on Monday. The county now delays reporting cases by two days.
The dashboard is showing 27 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals. Of the 27 patients, three are in intensive care and one is on a ventilator.
The county has reported 42,730 since the pandemic began. The county has reported 13,851 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 42nd when sorted by cases per 100,000. Cases are down 41.9% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has a 3.2% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports that 118,677 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 106,125 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 65.8%. The largest county in the state is St. Louis County with 70.7%.
Boone County is third in the state with a reported 58.8% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. St. Louis County is the first county in the state with 62.8% of residents having completed the doses for vaccination. The city of Joplin has 63.3% of the population fully vaccinated.
Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 55.5%. Callaway County is third with 51.7%.
The Columbia Public Schools reports active coronavirus and quarantine cases to their website daily.
The district reported a 7.2 14-day rate for last Saturday.
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 13 coronavirus cases in staff across the district. The breakdown in staff shows six 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 eight district facilities to have students currently out due to the coronavirus. The district is reporting five of the elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school are affected.
The district is reporting one student in elementary school has tested positive for the coronavirus.
There are 11 students who are required to quarantine due to the coronavirus. The district reports three elementary students are currently quarantining, seven students in middle school and one student in high school.
Cole County coronavirus cases continue to trend down
The Cole County Health Department reported five new coronavirus cases on Monday.
According to the dashboard update, there are 16,991 residential cases and 330 long-term care facility resident cases. That is 17,321 total cases in the county since March 2020.
Cole County has reported 190 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.
The county reported in the last week, prior to last Friday, there were 16 COVID positive cases, 11 breakthrough cases and zero COVID deaths were reported.
Cole County ranks 56th in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per 100,000 in the past week. Cases are down 31.8% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has reported a 3.2% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports about 55.5% of the county have initiated their first dose of the vaccine and 51.6% 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 two active cases in a student.
State of Missouri positivity rate continues to drop
The state of Missouri reported 1,055 new and probable coronavirus cases from Monday.
The state health department is reporting a 201 seven-day coronavirus case average (1,406 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 566 new coronavirus cases through PCR testing and another 489 probable cases identified in antigen testing from Thursday, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services coronavirus dashboard. Missouri has now reported 1,128,069 confirmed cases for the pandemic and more than 276,254 probable cases.
The state added eight deaths for 15,642 total and no new probable death was added for 3,721.
Missouri's new cases are down 39.4% over the past week, the state reports, as recent cases go down nationwide.
The rate of positive tests is 3.2% 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.
Callaway (19), Saline (21), Howard (25), Osage (27), Miller (30) and Randolph (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 8.05% (no change for Monday) of vaccinated Missourians have developed COVID-19 infections. The state is reporting 278,407 breakthrough cases out of 3,459,163 fully vaccinated people. The state has reported 1,691 breakthrough deaths.
Experts continue to tout vaccination as the best tool to fight the wave of new cases.
The state reported Wednesday that 56.4% of Missouri residents are fully vaccinated.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are also trending down, with the state reporting 18% of total inpatient capacity and 25% of ICU capacity remaining. Those numbers are at 26% and 38% in Central Missouri, respectively. The state is reporting 780 patient hospitalizations. There are currently 145 patients in Missouri ICUs. The hospital status for all of Missouri is on a three-day delay, the latest information is from Tuesday.
