MONDAY UPDATES: Missouri DHSS adds 115 coronavirus related deaths after analyzing death certificates
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has added 115 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 115 deaths:
- One in January 2021
- One in July 2021
- One in September 2021
- Four in December 2021
- Nine in January
- 43 in February
- 56 in March
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.
Boone County reports COVID cases down over 28% compared to last week
The Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services is reporting 10 new coronavirus cases were added to the information hub from Monday. The county delays reporting cases by two days.
The dashboard is showing 18 COVID-19 patients in Boone County hospitals. Of the 18 patients, one patient is in intensive care and no patient is on a ventilator.
The county has reported 42,814 since the pandemic began. The county has reported 13,935 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 38th when sorted by cases per 100,000. Cases are down 28.2% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has a 2.5% positivity test rate, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).
The Missouri coronavirus vaccine dashboard reports that 118,796 residents have received their first dose in Boone County and 106,317 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 63% 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%.
Cole County reports four days without a COVID case in the past week
The Cole County Health Department reported four new coronavirus cases on Monday.
According to the dashboard update, there are 17,023 residential cases and 330 long-term care facility resident cases. That is 17,353 total cases in the county since March 2020.
The county has reported 199 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began.
Cole County ranks 32nd in the state for counties with the most coronavirus cases per 100,000 in the past week. Cases are down 31.6% when comparing last week to the prior week. The county has reported a 3.8% 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 or in a staff member on Sunday.
The district is reporting one active case in students and one in a staff member.
State of Missouri reports COVID cases down over 15% compared to last week
The state of Missouri reported 851 new and probable coronavirus cases from Monday.
The state health department is reporting a 151 seven-day coronavirus case average (1,055 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 473 new coronavirus cases through PCR testing and another 378 probable cases identified in antigen testing from Thursday, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services coronavirus dashboard. Missouri has now reported 1,131,464 confirmed cases for the pandemic and more than 278,639 probable cases.
The state added four deaths for 16,045 total and one new probable death was added for 3,834.
Missouri's new cases are down 15.3% over the past week, the state reports, as recent cases go down nationwide.
The rate of positive tests is 3% 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.
Callaway (19), Morgan (23), Cole (32) and Boone (38) 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 8.1% (no change for Monday) of vaccinated Missourians have developed COVID-19 infections. The state is reporting 281,312 breakthrough cases out of 3,470,924 fully vaccinated people. The state has reported 1,866 breakthrough deaths.
Experts continue to tout vaccination as the best tool to fight the wave of new cases.
The state reported Monday that 56.6% of Missouri residents are fully vaccinated.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are also trending down, with the state reporting 18% of total inpatient capacity and 22% of ICU capacity remaining. Those numbers are at 14% and 29% in Central Missouri, respectively. The state is reporting 518 patient hospitalizations. There are currently 81 patients in Missouri ICUs. The hospital status for all of Missouri is on a three-day delay, the latest information is from Monday.
