THURSDAY UPDATES: Boone County reports 25 COVID patients in the hospital, lowest since omicron surge
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 12 new coronavirus cases were added to the information hub on Thursday. The county delays reporting cases by two days.
The dashboard is showing 25 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals. Of the 25 patients, one is in intensive care and there are none on a ventilator.
The county has reported 42,761 since the pandemic began. The county has reported 13,882 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 33rd when sorted by cases per 100,000. Cases are down 23.2% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has a 3.5% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports that 118,708 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 106,179 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 6 14-day rate for last Tuesday.
CPS reports 16 district facilities (seven elementary schools, four middle schools, two high schools 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 six staff members at an elementary school, four staff members at middle schools, two staff members at the high schools 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 four of the elementary schools, two middle schools and two high schools are affected.
Cole County reports nine new coronavirus-related deaths
The Cole County Health Department reported two new coronavirus cases on Thursday.
According to the dashboard update, there are 17,000 residential cases and 330 long-term care facility resident cases. That is 17,330 total cases in the county since March 2020.
Cole County reported nine new coronavirus-related deaths; 129 (+8) in the residential population and 70 (+1) were in long-term care facility residents. Donna Seidel with Cole County says the deaths were reported Thursday to the health department and occurred in January and February. The residents that died were 65 or older. The county has reported 199 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.
Cole County ranks 63rd in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per 100,000 in the past week. Cases are down 40.9% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has reported a 3.1% 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 Wednesday.
The district is reporting two active cases in a student.
State of Missouri reports over 56% of residents are fully vaccinated
The state of Missouri reported 461 new and probable coronavirus cases from Tuesday.
The state health department is reporting a 191 seven-day coronavirus case average (1,340 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 289 new coronavirus cases through PCR testing and another 172 probable cases identified in antigen testing from Thursday, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services coronavirus dashboard. Missouri has now reported 1,128,984 confirmed cases for the pandemic and more than 276,897 probable cases.
The state added three deaths for 15,943 total and no new probable deaths was added for 3,791.
Missouri's new cases are down 30.6% over the past week, the state reports, as recent cases go down nationwide.
The rate of positive tests is 3.1% for the last week. A higher positivity rate suggests higher transmission and that there are likely more people with coronavirus in the community who haven’t been tested yet.
Howard (12), Osage (13), Miller (21), Pettis (25), Callaway (29), Boone (33), Camden (34) and Audrain (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 8.07% (no change for Thursday) of vaccinated Missourians have developed COVID-19 infections. The state is reporting 279,420 breakthrough cases out of 3,462,602 fully vaccinated people. The state has reported 1,819 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 23% of total inpatient capacity and 27% of ICU capacity remaining. Those numbers are at 33% and 42% in Central Missouri, respectively. The state is reporting 770 patient hospitalizations. There are currently 128 patients in Missouri ICUs. The hospital status for all of Missouri is on a three-day delay, the latest information is from Monday.
