WEDNESDAY UPDATES: Boone County reports positivity rate below 3%
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 14 new coronavirus cases were added to the information hub from Monday. The county delays reporting cases by two days.
The dashboard is showing 14 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals. Of the 14 patients, one patient is in intensive care and one patient is on a ventilator.
The county has reported 42,792 since the pandemic began. The county has reported 13,913 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 41st when sorted by cases per 100,000. Cases are down 25% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has a 2.9% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports that 118,718 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 106,233 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 70.8%.
Boone County is third in the state with a reported 58.9% of residents that have completed their coronavirus vaccine doses. St. Louis County is the first county in the state with 62.9% of residents having completed the doses for vaccination. The city of Joplin has 63.4% of the population fully vaccinated.
Cole County has the second-highest first vaccination rate in Mid-Missouri with 55.6%. Callaway County is third with 51.8%.
The Columbia Public Schools reports active coronavirus and quarantine cases to their website daily.
The district reported a 5.6 14-day rate for last Monday.
CPS reports 17 district facilities (eight 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 15 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, 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 reported eight district facilities that have reported coronavirus cases in students. In the district, there are five out of 21 elementary schools, two out of seven middle schools and one out of four high schools has reported coronavirus cases in students.
There is one active coronavirus case in an elementary student however there are 11 that are currently quarantined due to COVID. The district is reporting three cases at the elementary school level, seven at the middle school level and one at the high school level that is currently in quarantine.
Cole County reports COVID cases are up over 26% compared to last week
The Cole County Health Department reported two new coronavirus cases on Wednesday.
According to the dashboard update, there are 17,014 residential cases and 330 long-term care facility resident cases. That is 17,344 total cases in the county since March 2020.
The county has reported 199 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.
Cole County ranks 24th in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per 100,000 in the past week. Cases are up 26.7% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has reported a 3.5% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports about 55.6% of the county have initiated their first dose of the vaccine and 51.7% of the county's population have been fully vaccinated.
The Jefferson City School District reported no new coronavirus case in a student but there was one new case in a staff member on Tuesday.
The district is reporting three active cases in students and one in a staff member.
State of Missouri reports positivity rate below 3%
The state of Missouri reported 392 new and probable coronavirus cases from Wednesday.
The state health department is reporting a 170 seven-day coronavirus case average (1,190 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 222 new coronavirus cases through PCR testing and another 170 probable cases identified in antigen testing from Thursday, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services coronavirus dashboard. Missouri has now reported 1,130,461 confirmed cases for the pandemic and more than 277,556 probable cases.
The state added five deaths for 16,036 total and no new probable deaths were added for 3,833.
Missouri's new cases are down 21.8% over the past week, the state reports, as recent cases go down nationwide.
The rate of positive tests is 2.8% 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 (6), Osage (16), Cole (24), Monroe (26), Callaway (29), Miller (38), Camden (39) and Pettis (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 8.09% (no change for Wednesday) of vaccinated Missourians have developed COVID-19 infections. The state is reporting 280,604 breakthrough cases out of 3,467,408 fully vaccinated people. The state has reported 1,857 breakthrough deaths.
Experts continue to tout vaccination as the best tool to fight the wave of new cases.
The state reported Wednesday that 56.5% of Missouri residents are fully vaccinated.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are also trending down, with the state reporting 22% of total inpatient capacity and 24% of ICU capacity remaining. Those numbers are at 29% and 35% in Central Missouri, respectively. The state is reporting 599 patient hospitalizations. There are currently 100 patients in Missouri ICUs. The hospital status for all of Missouri is on a three-day delay, the latest information is from Wednesday.
